


A Close Encounter

by fxcedown



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: And because Aloy is only human too, Because we all need a little more Niloy in our life, Curiosity, F/M, INDEFINITE HIATUS, Near Death Experiences, On Hold, Post end battle, Spoils of war?, WRITERS BLOCK AF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2018-11-18 07:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11287017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fxcedown/pseuds/fxcedown
Summary: She thought by now, hours after she'd drove her spear through Hades' red lens, the exhaustion would have caught up with her. But the rush from the battle and fervent celebrations of those from the lower level of the Hunters' Lodge was yet to wash from her veins and as she studied the Carja hunter leaning leisurely in her doorway, she realised that maybe she didn't want to be alone tonight.





	1. A Close Encounter

Alone, or at least as close as she was going to get tonight. She could hear the lively banter from the first level even from here, hear the jeers and shouts and laughter. They had survived, defeated Hades and the Eclipse cult. They had won. 

She tipped the candle in her hand, angling the wick into the small flame of an already alight candle. She had traded her battered armour for her light leathers to ready herself for rest. It had taken her almost an hour of intense scrubbing to cleanse her skin of the soot, dirt and blood using the small wash basin in the corner. By the time she had finished, the water had turned a dark brown colour, the colour staining the rag no matter how many times she tried to wring it clean. 

When she'd given up Olin's apartment to a family who had lost their home in Meridian Village, Avad had offered her the comfort of one of the rooms in the palace. To his disappointment she had declined, opting for a less grand, more familiar option. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to feel the eyes of thousands boring into her, whispering her name, praising her as their saviour. 

But she'd barely taken a few steps from the bridge before the Sun-King's palace when she had run into Talanah and Tufanah who wouldn't hear a word of her protests, practically dragging Aloy by either arm to the Lodge. 

She'd been deposited at the bar among many of the other members and refugees who had had their homes in Meridian Village and the Maizelands razed, watching them chase the sun down with flagon after flagon of brew. It was only when Talanah had been dragged into a game of cards hours later that Aloy was able to slip away from the celebrations unnoticed and into the small room at the furthest end of the Lodge. 

And so here she stood alone in her temporary dwelling in the Lodge, slowly bringing more light to the small space. She set the candle down in a ring of its own wax. It was still too early to try and rest, she was still too awake, too aware. She wondered if she could manage to sneak out for a midnight hunt. Surely they would all be too inebriated to notice or care. She glanced at her bow propped up by the bed. 

"She'll face a hoard of metal demons and murderous zealots yet flee a room full of her kinsmen at the first chance she gets. I see even the machine tamer has her limits." 

Aloy turned slowly, barely recognising the Carja hunter without his headdress. Nil stood before her, lingering at the threshold of the room. Cuts and bruises lined his arms in the places his armour hadn't protected him. Shrapnel wounds flecked his skin along his right side, across his neck, jaw and cheek. He'd traded his usual vest for a plain red one without the white shell fixings or golden stitching. Without all the extra adornments, he looked like just another citizen. Less lethal, more human.

"Big crowds and drowning myself in brew aren't really my thing. I like to be able to think and see straight." She said. That earned her a smirk.

“Something we have in common Nora. Still, one cannot blame another for revelling at the idea of beating back death with one’s own hands. Each celebrates life in their own way, most prefer to do it by numbing their senses.” As he spoke, Aloy felt herself get caught on the playful gleam in his eyes, the mischievous grin he spoke through.

She thought by now, hours after she'd drove her spear through Hades' red lens, the exhaustion would have caught up with her. But the rush from the battle and fervent celebrations of those downstairs was yet to wash from her veins and she found herself silently studying the Carja hunter. She didn't need her Focus for this. The light from the candles cast slight shadows on him, accentuating the curves in his arms, the strong lines of his jaw and cheekbones. Everywhere else, his skin was bathed in a soft, warm light. 

That was another stark difference between the Nora and Carja. Aloy was used to seeing . . . well to not seeing so much skin. Back in the Embrace it was much too cold for anything less than a covered torso and legs, at the very least. The only time they'd strip off their layers was to bathe or to sleep. Even then they were never bare for longer than they needed nor more than they needed to be. But the Carja wore garments fashioned to expose their skin to the sun and the admiration of others. Exposed midriffs and arms, chests even for the men. Men like the one leaning lazily against her doorway. 

She found herself following the line that ran down the middle of his chest then split off to outline the muscles in his abdomen. A sudden, strange restlessness made her palms and fingertips tingle. The motion of him crossing his arms snapped her out of her trance. She shifted her wandering eyes away from him, readjusted her position against the bedside chest. 

If he'd noticed her ogling of him, he didn't show it. He wasn't even looking at her but rather glancing at one of the bandages on his arm that was already beginning to fray. Then she realised he hadn’t stopped talking.  
"-I suspect I won't find much to the South. The North may be more promising but something tells me that any vagrant Shadow Carja might find themselves drawn back to Sunfall."

"The last time I was at Sunfall I had people cheering for my death." Aloy said bitterly. There was that lopsided grin again.

"Another thing we seem to share in common. Which is why I'd thought I'd leave my regards before departing." The Nora straightened, frowning.

"You're not staying?" She wasn't surprised but she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her gut.

"It is one thing to fight alongside a man as his brother in combat but it is another to share his roof." Came his reply. She had to admit, it was a strange sight seeing him within an enclosed space. It looked unnatural, like seeing a caged animal. At times she felt the same.

"You think there will be much trouble from the remaining Shadow Carja?" She said.

He shrugged with his good shoulder. "I don't doubt the vermin will come crawling out of the cracks of the world, eager to fill the void the derangement and violence left behind. It's just the natural way of things. When they do, I'll be waiting."

"You're heading out tonight?" She said but he shook his head.

"Not tonight. I'll return to my camp to regather my resources and take wing tomorrow morning."

She remembered the gruelling climb up to the mesa at his request, how she'd had to lunge and reach at full stretch for each handhold. Even in full health and well rested, her muscles had burned by the end of it.

"You should stay here tonight. Allow yourself time to recover." She suggested. He shook it off.

"A hawk does not rest after a hunt when it knows more rats are lying in hiding."

She sighed. At times talking to him was like trying to clutch water.

"Nil you're injured, you've just fought off a threat to the entire existence of our world." She pushed herself off the chest, calculating the number of beds and refugees the Lodge was currently holding. "We could make room for you. I’d let you stay." One quick glance at the room though told her it would likely be an uncomfortable set-up. Even him standing at the door, the room already felt crowded.

She didn't know why she fought him on the matter. She understood as well as anyone the need to be away from the commotion. If she had her way she would have set up her own camp beneath the stars. She'd never really understood the notion of company other than for collaboration in hunts and combat. But suddenly Nil's presence was a welcome one and she thought that maybe she didn’t want to be alone after all.

"She lets her guard down too quickly tonight." He commented.

She noted that he had not made a move to enter the room since appearing.

"Why, is there some reason I shouldn't trust you to keep to yourself?" She laughed, trying and likely failing to come off as sardonic. Nil's expression told her he thought it otherwise.

"I'd never take advantage of you, Aloy. It's not for me to share your bed." He said.

Something became alight inside her. As he’d said, most people channelled the relief and thrill of victory through bumping flagons with each other, gambling away their shards or trading banter and fists. But she’d heard as well that it was common to seek the comfort of another’s presence in more private and intimate ways.

She tried to swallow down the feeling of her heart in her throat. She willed her voice not to betray her when she spoke.

"What if I asked you to?"

He had had his silver eyes turned to the candles flickering beside him but at her words he lifted his head to meet her gaze.  
He said nothing, his face betraying no feelings. She tried to read him but she couldn't tell what he was thinking.  
That was the thing with him. In the heat of battle she could read his mind as clearly as if it was her own, anticipating and complementing his movements without a word spoken between them. As soon as her last arrow flew though and he tucked his knife back into its sheath, half the time still slick with blood, it was like blowing out all the candles.  
Complete darkness.

He moved smoothly across the room until he stood before her, metallic eyes holding hers.  
"Is that what you want?" He said quietly.

She knew he was tall, big, but standing so close together like they were now with his eyes swallowing her up, she never felt smaller. Was he trying to intimidate her? Test her? Either way, she would not yield. She set her jaw and held his gaze defiantly. He should have realised by know that nothing could scare her into submission, not even his bloodlust or complete mysteriousness. If anything, it intrigued her even more. She couldn't deny though that he made her nervous. Made her nerves comes alive like sparking wires.

He broke eye contact first, gaze slowly moving down her face, her neck, to her chest. 

His fingers, long and thin, traced the red stitching of the long piece of fabric that hung down her front. As he reached the part that draped before her middle, he suddenly clenched the fabric in his fist and pulled her forward. He took half a step to meet her as she lurched forward and she had to put her hands out to stop herself from colliding with him, one hand on his upper arm, the other on his ribs. She saw something blazing in his eyes but she wasn't sure what it was. His voice was low, soft when he spoke, his breath warm on her face.

"You know how we work. I wait for your mark, you need only give it." Her mouth fell open in hesitation as she struggled to process her situation, to find the right words but no words would come. She was overwhelmed by his closeness, how warm and sturdy he felt beneath her palms. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or a trick of the light but his eyes had softened to a smoky brown.

Her time was up.

He withdrew from her, releasing his grip on her shirt. He gave her one last up and down sweep before turning to take his leave.

"Sweet dreams, Aloy." He threw over his shoulder, and Aloy swore she caught the end of a smirk before he disappeared.

With his departure she suddenly exhaled, her tense muscles finally relaxing. But she didn't feel the relief normally associated with such a motion. Instead, her heart pounded just the same and something like disappointment weighed down her shoulders.

What had just happened? 

She shook her head. Ran trembling fingers through her hair. Why did he affect her so, all of a sudden?

Nil was by no means a simple man. Maybe that was why she felt such an intense attraction to him, like a scrapper to downed machinery. Except she didn't want to break him apart to recycle; she wanted to know what metal he was made of, unravel the mechanisms of his mind. She crawled onto her cot, not bothering to blow out the candles. She laid her head down and closed her eyes, his words echoing in her head.  
"I wait for your mark, you need only give it."


	2. A Test of Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He leaned forward a little, forearm resting on his knee.  
> “Why don’t you come join me?”  
> She could hear the challenge, clear as day, in his voice. There was no doubt about it, he was testing her this time. But just like so many things about the silver-eyed hunter, it wasn't something she was sure she understood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your comments and time. I didn't originally have this chapter planned but the other part I was working on is taking longer than I thought so I decided I'd chuck something in between. Hope it's not too boring for youse. Enjoy.

Aloy eyed the blue silhouettes, her arrowhead glinting in the sun. She hadn’t even realised the rabbits were there, concealed among the fanning leaves of the ferns dotting the landscape. It wasn’t until she’d consulted her Focus had she realised that her and Talanah were far from the only living, breathing things wandering around. 

One of them propped itself up onto its hind legs, sniffing the air. The other was inspecting a mound of dirt. She waited for them to move from behind the patch of ridgewood. 

The second rabbit didn’t even have time to react to its partner dropping before one of Aloy’s arrows had pierced its side. 

She wiped the sweat from her brow as she stood from her position in the swaying scarlet-headed grass. 

She’d been going back and forth between the Embrace and Meridian, helping where she could for as long as she could. That is until the reverent stares of the Nora was too much for her and she had to leave. But the Sundom was hardly any better. She’d stay until the peoples' hailing her as a vessel of the Sun God drove her back to the chill and frost. 

When she was staying in Meridian she spent her nights at the Lodge. On those nights she couldn’t help casting glances over her shoulder at her doorway. When she was on the road she found herself searching for crimson feathers. Felt a pang every time she saw a helmeted Carja guard. She kept her ears open for any word of a silver-eyed hunter. 

She’d even come across a number of wandering bandits, expecting to see him bursting from the grass with that wicked grin. 

But there was nothing. It was like he had just disappeared. 

How long had it been now? The brown tinge to the tips of the leaves on the trees told her it had only been a couple of months. Why did it feel like longer?

Aloy knew she should have followed him. By the time she had decided to try his trail was already too cold. 

She slung the rabbits over her shoulder, meeting up with the Carja huntress. She looked bored. 

“Not the kind of hunting you’re used to?” Aloy laughed as she got closer. Her hunting partner was crouching by a turkey, trying to ease her arrow from its breast. 

“It's not much of a challenge but I admit, the smaller targets make for good accuracy training.” 

With the sudden influx of refugees and the regeneration of the Royal Maizelands still in its early stages, the Hunters’ Lodge had agreed to partake in the more traditional form of hunting to provide for the city. Beasts with skin and meat. 

The arrowhead finally came free. She took the turkey by its feet and straightened. 

“That should do it for today. Just because we survived extinction doesn’t mean we should start driving it ourselves.” 

Talanah turned then, placing two fingers in her mouth. A long, shrill note sounded from between her lips, making Aloy’s ears ring. Before long she heard the reply of more whistles off in the distance. Four other pairs of hunters had joined them this time. 

“It’s good to see so many people willing to help out. And not just those wearing Carja silks either. I don’t think I’ve seen so many people from the different tribes in the one place.” Aloy said as they began their walk back to one of the many trails winding throughout the jungle. 

“Almost more than we can keep up with. Word from the Hunting Grounds is the machines are presenting less of a challenge than usual.” 

“I guess the corruption really is gone then.” 

Talanah’s face took on a grim expression. 

“Yeah well it’s not all good news. Some Shadow Carja that were left behind have taken to pillaging villages and settlements that their army had passed through. A desperate attempt to re-establish some kind of reputation no doubt.” 

“By targeting people that have already seen so much suffering. That’s just . . .”

“Pathetic? Sickening? Heartless? Take your pick.” 

It made her think about the sudden emergence of outlander bandits prowling the Nora lands after the massacre.

“No one has tried to stop them?” 

“They’ve tried. But the thieves come at night, taking as much as they can before the few guards stationed there even realise that something is up.” 

Aloy scowled. 

“So they’re cowards too? Someone is going to have to sort them out.” 

“I wonder who that someone is going to be.” Talanah smiled, raising her eyebrows at her. 

The Nora strung her bow over her shoulder. 

“It’s about time I got moving anyway. I can only stand people gawking at and touching me like some divine artefact for so long.” 

They’d made it back to the trail. Talanah nodded her head in greeting to Tufanah and her partner who were already waiting for them. 

“You should come with me.” Aloy said. But the huntress shook her head. 

“As much as I’d like to stretch my wings somewhere where the city isn’t looming at my back, there’s too much work to be done here. Since the fight with the Eclipse, more and more people have been seeking membership with the Lodge. Think I might have to promote some of our more experienced Thrushes just to accommodate for the new wave wanting to join.” 

“What you’re doing Talanah. Your brother and father would be proud.” Talanah smiled at that. Aloy liked how her cheeks puffed up around her mouth when she smiled. It reminded her of a gooseling.

“It’s one thing to welcome the tribes under the same roof. It’s another to make sure their competitiveness remains aimed at hunting machines and not each other.” 

The Nora handed over her game. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to hang around a little longer? I busted open one of the old storerooms from long before Ahsis was Sun-Hawk. There’s some very dusty barrels of wine that have been sitting undisturbed for far too long.” Talanah said. 

“I think I’ll pass.” 

Talanah shrugged. 

“Suit yourself.” 

Aloy stepped closer to the other woman, reaching for her forearm. She felt the others sure grip on her own arm. 

“I’ll be sure to have a good hunt waiting for you when you return. And I don’t mean an oversized boar.” 

That made Aloy laugh.

“Thank you, Talanah.” 

“Farewell Aloy, despite the Nora. Show those thieves why even the machines fear your name.” 

Aloy nodded. They parted, heading their separate ways. 

“Aloy!” She turned on her heel at the sound of the huntress’ voice. 

“Don’t forget; you may be a Hawk now but that doesn’t mean you get to sit on your ass picking daisies!” 

Aloy raised her hand in acknowledgement. 

“I’ll bring you the biggest Stormbird talon I can find. Just for you.” She saw the huntress incline her head. 

“You better!”

~

Aloy had heard from a wandering merchant that the nomadic group of Shadow rogues had settled into a small Carja village overlooking the main road a couple of hours from Unflinching Watch. Sun’s Blessing. 

Shadow Carja squatting at a village called Sun’s Blessing. So they had a sense of humour too. 

It had already been a full day since she had left Talanah at the Raingathers. She had long left the cool shade of the green, leafy jungles behind. The only trees she saw now were long dead, their bark stripped and bleached white by the scorching sun. Towering formations and ranges of rich rusty-coloured rock rose up all around her. Glinthawks circled in the distance, keen eyes searching for the glint of metal and sparking wires. 

Aloy took no notice of them though. Her mind was elsewhere. 

It would take her another day maybe to get to Sun’s Blessing. Would they still be there or would they have moved on by then? And if it was so close to a Carja watchtower, why hadn’t they sent out a squadron to deal with them? 

She thought about the guards, sitting up in the watchtower. She’d seen how high up it was, surely they could see the settlement from there? 

She was thinking about the guards and their helmets. Could they even see out of them? How they managed to wear the cumbersome things into battle bewildered her. 

And then she was thinking about the Carja hunter who sported a similar headdress, except his came no further than his forehead. She was glad that it didn’t cover his eyes. She’d never seen anyone with eyes like his. 

She couldn’t get the way he had looked at her, spoken to her in that low, soft voice out of her head. It made her feel nervous but not in the same way a Rockbreaker might when she couldn't tell where it would emerge from. It made her feel something else too. Something exciting and unfamiliar. 

She’d never wanted anyone’s intimate presence before. So why did she now, still, even after he and the adrenaline were gone? 

She shook her head to try and clear it. If Rost could see her now, ruminating on such trivial things, he would be disappointed. Scold her for so carelessly letting herself get distracted from the present. _It's the present that poses the biggest threat Aloy. Not the past or the future. Now focus._ That's what Rost had taught her. 

She hit a nearby boulder with the end of her lance, sending a crack through it and a jolt up her arm. 

This is ridiculous, she told herself. Pull yourself together Aloy. 

“Save it for something that deserves it Nora. Or rather someone.” She felt her chest squeeze, her throat constrict. She told herself it was because he had caught her by surprise. 

In her mind she saw Rost crossing his arms and shaking his head at her. 

Crouching on the lowest branch of a tree nestled into the rocky wall, watching her with an amused expression. That explained why she hadn’t seen him. 

“Nil.” 

He slipped from the tree as smoothly as a cat might. 

“Aloy.” He said as he settled himself on the ledge still another twenty feet above her head. She loosened her grip on her weapon, moving off the road. 

“What are you doing up there?” 

“I was scouting, looking for signs of this newly emerged bandit camp I keep hearing about. That is until I spotted a particularly fiery flash of hair.” 

She gave him a skeptical look. 

“Scouting from a tree hardly more than thirty feet off the ground?” 

“No, no. From up there.” He gestured with a nod of his head up and behind him to the top of the cliff. The very unstable, ridged cliff. Trust Nil to find a way up a near unscaleable wall where a single slip would mean certain death, she thought. 

“And did you find what you were looking for?” 

“Only something I didn’t realise I was looking for.” 

Even from here she could see his eyes shining. She thought they could probably attract glinthawks. She scolded herself for thinking something so stupid. 

She moved closer to the base of the rocky wall. It's base sloped up slightly, like a hill. 

“You’ve heard about Sun’s Blessing too?” she shouted up to him. 

He cocked his head to the side. 

“It’s all the Carja ever seem to talk about isn’t it?” 

She shook her head. 

“I meant the place.” 

“Hm?”

She sighed. 

“You know it would be much easier to talk if you just came down here.” 

He leaned forward slightly, forearm resting on his knee. 

“Why don’t you come join me?” She could hear the challenge in his voice, clear as day. There was no doubt about it, he was testing her this time.

She eyed the crumbling red stone. It was only twenty feet. She’d survived a fall that high before. When there were meters of snow or river to absorb the impact of the fall, she reminded herself. She didn’t think sand and rocks would have the same effect.

She sighed. His craziness must be rubbing off on you, she thought as she searched for hand and footholds that wouldn’t disintegrate when she touched them. 

From the corner of her eye she saw him grinning as he got up. 

By the time she’d pulled herself up onto the ledge her front was covered in the red dirt. She dusted her hands off. 

“Okay I’m here. So can we-” But when she looked up he was nowhere to be seen. She turned around, examining the length of the ledge. 

“She’s quick, but not quick enough.” She looked up. He was smirking down at her from another ledge another twenty feet up. 

“What are you doing?” 

He laughed down at her. 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m waiting for you.” 

She found the route he’d taken up. She began to climb. 

“You couldn’t have waited for me here. Like you said you would?” She said when she reached the second ledge. 

“I never said I’d wait for you there. I asked you to come join me. Here I am and there you are.” Came his reply from somewhere not on equal ground to her. He was already on his way up again. 

She closed her eyes to compose herself. To think she almost missed him. 

“Come on little huntress. Don’t keep me waiting.” He called down to her. Her eyes flew open. Little huntress? Just who exactly did he think he was talking to? 

She squared her jaw, scanning for the quickest route up the wall of rock. 

I’ll show him little, she thought sternly. If it’s a race to the top he wants then it’s a race he’ll get. 

She heard him laughing somewhere above her. It just made her move faster. 

She narrowed the gap between them quickly. She was directly underneath him when she felt her eyes stinging as dust fell into them. 

His movements were dislodging small rocks and clouds of sand. She turned her face into her arm, feeling it shower down on her. When it was safe she looked up at him. 

“Nil! Think you can scale the cliff without taking half of it down as you go?” 

“I thought you’d appreciate the challenge!” He shouted as there was another rain of dirt. 

She continued to climb. Her fingers and palms were beginning to sweat, the rock beneath her fingertips growing more unstable the higher she got. 

She didn’t know where the Carja hunter was. She’d blocked him out, too focused on keeping herself attached to the rock as she gripped loose dirt in her right hand. This is why we have roads, she thought with a grimace as one of her boots slipped. 

When she’d finally hauled herself over the edge and onto the top, her hands were all scratched up and her skin filthy with the orange dirt. She got to her feet, panting. She'd hardly managed to catch her breath when she heard him behind her. 

“I was starting to think you might’ve fallen.” 

She didn’t even hesitate. She swung around, lance in hand. 

He met her halfway, a hand on her lance just below where the blade met the carved wood, holding it still while his other hand covered one of hers. She was stuck fast. 

“Guess I’m faster than you after all.” He said through a lopsided smile. 

She felt her arms shaking with the effort to free herself from his grip. He hardly budged. 

“Maybe if you didn’t get a head start or try to bring half the cliff side down on top of me, it might have been a fair race.” She said through gritted teeth. 

He ignored her, using his hold to force her backwards. She let out a pained groan as he shifted her lance horizontally across her body. His grip on her meant she couldn’t readjust for the position. He was crushing her hand. 

After a few steps she managed to steel her stance and they came to a stop. 

He leaned down close to her face. He was wearing that same hungry look he had when he’d challenged her to a duel to the death. 

“Do you trust me Aloy?” He asked. She looked up at him in exasperation. 

“What?” Of all the things he could have asked her and he asked her that. 

“Do you trust me?” 

A thousand questions were bubbling inside her head but her answer came easily. 

“Of course I do.” 

She saw him falter. How could he expect any other answer from her? 

His fingers loosened and she let herself relax. 

And then he pushed her backwards hard, her back cracking as she hit something solid. She gasped as the air left her lungs, her weapon dropping as he manoeuvred away from her. She crumpled to her knees, coughing as she tried to get air back into her. 

He crouched before her. 

“You’re strong Aloy. Fiercer, more cunning than anyone I’ve ever come across.” He reached out then, his fingers touching her chin lightly to tilt her face up to his. “You know where to find me. I’ll be waiting.” 

He stood, leaving her stunned and breathless. 

By the time she could breathe again, the Carja hunter was already long gone.

She got to her feet, flexing her fingers. 

Just what game was he playing at?


	3. Sun's Blessing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s the thing about bandits Aloy: there are always more, incessant scum they are.” It pained her when she realised that Nil's words were true. No matter how many times they'd sweep in to clear out one camp, more flooded into the next empty pocket of land to wreak havoc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. I'm sorry if this chapter seems very rushed but I wanted to get it out before I went away for the next couple of days. It's longer than usual as well because I think it's going to be a bit of a longer wait for the next chapter. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, please feel free to leave any comments. Adios.

Aloy squatted down on the rock that had become her vantage point, taking in the scene below her. Hastily gathered branches and planks of timber no doubt ripped from the houses themselves, sharpened to a point and erected into structures meant to deter. The dark wood contrasted grossly with the light sandstone blocks characteristic of Carja architecture. Red scraps of some kind of fabric, probably silk, hung limply from battlements. 

She had arrived at Sun’s Blessing. 

She touched a finger to her Focus. 

“Twenty-eight. Seven with firestrikers, three with Ravager cannons.” She felt herself tense up at his voice at the same time something stirred in her chest. She could feel his breath, warm on the back of her neck as he crouched by her shoulder. “I already counted them all, skirted the perimeter while I was waiting for you.” She felt her skin bristling under his gaze. 

She kept her own eyes trained on the sentries patrolling the gate. 

“Captives?” 

“Still alive but rounded up and caged.” Nil moved beside her, into her view. “Repulsive aren’t they? Prowling their battlements, preying on the unarmed and vulnerable. They don’t even realise a bigger predator lurks in the grass at their backs.” 

The image of a Stalker silently eyeing its unknowing victim came to her mind. She dismissed it, focusing on the glowing silhouettes dotting her vision. Sure enough she spotted a number that were bulkier and slower moving than the others. 

“The soldiers are spread too thin to be able to stop them. The villagers are too weak to defend themselves against armed men and the village itself was already a skeleton of a thriving settlement before they got here. Why would they need to arm themselves so heavily?” And where did they get the weapons from?

“Because they’re _scared_ , at just the whisper of our legend.” The hunter said through his teeth. “Can’t you feel them trembling, smell their fear? The air is thick with it.” 

“I think that’s just the humidity Nil.” She said but he wasn’t listening. 

The anticipation was almost dripping from his mouth, his eyes so bright they were like ice in the waning sunlight. He brandished his nameless knife with a flourish, the blade twirling around his fingers. 

She didn’t think it was possible but he seemed even more eager than normal. 

She turned her attention back to the bandits. She couldn’t see an alarm, nor had Nil mentioned one. They were both good with a bow but she wasn’t sure they’d be able to get far without alerting those further into the settlement. Would they turn on the villagers once they learned they were under attack? 

She followed the route of the sentries by the wall with her Focus. 

“Which way is the best way in?” She asked without looking away. When Nil didn’t answer she glanced at him to see he was looking at her but not at her face. She followed his gaze down to her restless fingers sliding up and down her arrow shafts. She stilled them. He didn’t say anything but he didn’t need to. He knew exactly what she was thinking and it shamed her. 

Nil found joy in downing bandits. She didn’t. But she couldn’t help the agitated itch in her fingers, the thrill that ran through her when she downed her enemy with a single well-placed head shot. 

“So what will it be this time Nora?” He asked. 

_I wait for your mark, you need only give it._ She shook his voice from her head. 

“We’ll have to keep it a ranged assault until we can take out their heavy weapons. Draw them away from the villagers so no stray bullets find them. Once we’ve immobilised their big guns, we move in closer and you can do what you do best.” He sheathed his knife, reaching behind his back for his bow. 

“Don’t forget Nil, this is the villagers' home. We don’t want them to be trampling through pools of blood or scrubbing it from their doors for the next couple of days.” He sighed dejectedly at that. 

“She’s gives with one hand while she takes with the other.” 

 

~

 

If they’d come across the camp just a few months earlier, Aloy might have felt a hint of anxiety from coming under fire of so many guns and arrows. The bandit clan however, despite their artillery, were a shadow of the war they had fought in. It had hardly been much of a fight. 

Even Nil, who would usually tuck away his blade in a contented, almost tranquil fashion once they had finished seemed disappointed that it was already over. She could see it in his stance, as if anticipating an enemy to jump out at him, raring for more. 

Even so, she had been distracted during the onslaught. Normally, between arrows or swings of their weapons they would check on the other, ready to provide aid if need be. This time she found herself lingering on her partner for longer than necessary, yet she knew he was more than capable of looking after himself. 

Their eyes had locked across the bodies for a split second. For that split second she thought she saw through his thirst for blood. She thought she glimpsed something much more raw and she forgot momentarily that she was in the middle of a battle. 

Until she felt the swish of a blade by her head and something knock her to the ground. She didn’t look at him again after that. 

Nil had stayed by her word. He’d kept his kills as clean as he could manage even when he was far out of the sight of the wide-eyed, frantic villagers. 

One of those villagers had stolen Aloy’s hands and attention, the third instance on her way to find her partner who had slipped away. 

“There are not enough words for me to express my gratitude for what you have done for us. Praise the Sun for you both!” She exclaimed, squeezing both of the huntress’ hands. Aloy just shook her head. 

“You don’t need to thank us. We only did what needed to be done.” The woman didn’t seem to be paying much attention to her words though. 

"The thieves didn't leave much but please, help yourselves to anything that may prove useful. The houses they took over are too sullied but I'm sure we can arrange something for you." 

Aloy eased herself from the woman. 

"That won't be necessary. I won't be staying anyways." 

The woman frowned. 

“Oh. I’m sorry, I just assumed that you would be remaining with your partner.” That caught Aloy’s attention. 

“My partner is . . . remaining. As in staying here? Overnight?” 

“Of course. Like I said, they didn't leave much but we can spare enough to restock your supplies and give you a warm bed. It's the least we can do." 

Aloy didn't answer. She could only stare in disbelief. 

 

~

 

It didn’t take her long to locate the stone hut Nil had taken to. It was small, at the very edge of the village away from everything else. Exactly like she would have chosen, she thought as she made her way up the pathway leading to the hut. 

She saw him before she even reached the threshold. It was one of those huts that had no real doors or windows, just holes carved from the stone to allow the breeze to flow freely through. He sat in a chair just inside the doorway, stripped of his armour save for his vest and silken pants. In his hand he held a rag and one of his gauntlets. He didn’t look up when she stood before him in the doorway. 

“And here I thought you disappeared into the night.” She said. 

“I was thinking the same about you.” He said coolly. She raised an eyebrow, prompting him. “I got carried away in the hunt; the blood pounding in my ears, the ring of my blade as I sliced through ruffian after ruffian. I let them get too close to me, tempting my luck. I’d have a very ugly gash across my back had the wretch not hit the Voice of Our Teeth. Horrible technique, too straight and not enough venom or intent to kill.” 

“Your bow saved your life when you weren’t even using it? That’s impressive.” She said, crossing her arms. 

“Almost at the cost of its own. An Oseram that had winded up enslaved along with the Carja villagers caught me on my way out. Saw the sorry state of my bow, noted the chinks in my armour as well. Guaranteed he could hammer them back into shape, even replace those that were lost. He said it was the least he could do, after all I’d done. Whatever that means.” 

Aloy’s brow creased. 

“You do realise that means you’ll be stuck here until he’s finished. It could take days.” But the hunter shrugged. 

“He made me a good offer. It also means I get to savour the wonders of our art just that little bit longer.” Aloy rolled her eyes. She really shouldn’t be surprised with him anymore. 

He gestured with a nod of his head to another stool lying in the corner of the room. She pushed off the doorway, stepping into the room. She brought it over, setting herself across from him. 

“Not many people can disappear without a trail I can track,” she said. “And I’ve tracked many people who didn’t want to be found.”

“If I didn’t know better Nora, I’d think you were about to compliment me.” He said with a quirked lip. She ignored his quip. 

“Where did you go?”

“South, east. The south was as bare as I thought it would be. But the east? Filthy with such wretched souls, all hovelling in the ruins of a settlement buried into the mountainside. I was disappointed when I didn’t come across your arrow.”

She’d heard rumours about bandits crawling back into the pockets of land that had been abandoned by the Eclipse. Those east of Meridian had only started stirring a couple of weeks ago. 

“What were you doing in between clearing out bandit camps? Surely killing isn’t the only thing that occupies your time.” She asked. Although, she found it difficult to imagine Nil sitting at a bar, surrounded by fellow hunters and wanderers as they exchanged war stories. 

He gave her a strange look, as if he didn’t understand the question. She sighed. 

“What will you do once they’re all gone?” 

His eyes flashed. 

“That’s the thing about bandits: there are always more, incessant scum they are. You can clean a wound of all the infection but the minute another opens, it all comes seeping in again. And it seems people just love ripping open the skin of the world, just to see what it’s made of.” 

She noted then the blood and mud dirtying the cloth in his hand and the very unbloodied pile of metal to his left. 

“You’re cleaning your armour? You’re full of surprises today Nil.” She said. He laughed through his white smirk. 

“In any other circumstance I wouldn’t. Let the memory of their sacrifice live on by the blood they left behind until the rain comes to wash it away. But the commonfolk don’t understand our craft. I figured if I'm to stay, they might not appreciate the memory of their brief spell of captivity.” 

“That’s . . . thoughtful of you.” 

She thought about the bodies scattered around the village, the splashes of blood in the dirt. The villagers had hardly registered them as they came swarming to her to give her their praise. She doubted that meant they weren’t noticing them now. 

“Does that mean you’ll help clean the rest of our mess?” 

"She's very inquisitive this evening." He said, looking up at her from under his eyebrows. 

"What, does that bother you?"

"No, no, a curious mind is a sound one. Curiosity is to the mind what the itch in your fingers is to hands that have been still for too long. I personally find that crossing blades with another is the most honest way of sating my curiosity." 

"There are less violent ways. You know, like asking." She pointed out but he shook his head, his features scrunching. 

"It's not the same." 

"Do you really believe that?" 

His hands stilled as he looked up at her. 

"I know you Aloy. You don't let your emotions carry you away and cloud your judgement. Rather, you use your conscientiousness like a whetstone to a knife. You understand that people must face the repercussions of their actions. Where a man renounces his humanity to prey on the innocent, you understand death is his only retribution. 

“Only, you don't linger on your kills, instead deliver a swift and concise end to your foes because seeing that they feel pain and bleed red just like you do makes you realise that the only thing that separates you from them is that they were weaker and let their fear take them over." He said these things casually, as if he were reciting a list of trivial facts; salvebrush berries are bitter, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, a finger will bleed if you cut it. 

But Aloy felt Nil’s words sinking deep into her and for a few moments she could only sit there quietly. Could he really tell all that just by fighting by her side? She’d hardly gathered much from him other than an almost unstoppable drive to carve through camp after camp. And here I thought I was the observant one, she thought. Realising she was gripping her leggings in bunches, she smoothed her palms out over her thighs. 

"I just . . . I feel like I hardly know you." She murmured. She knew there was more to the Carja hunter than he let on, yet whatever he was hiding beneath the surface, he wasn't giving her access to it. At least no more than he wanted to. 

"You could have changed that." He said, giving her a pointed look. 

She recalled the moment he had challenged her to a fight to the death. 

She hadn't even considered it. 

It wasn't that she'd thought she couldn't take him. She'd had no doubt he would be a challenging opponent but she was more adept with a bow than he was. She knew his moves and tendencies almost as well as she knew her own. But even then, the thought of putting an arrow through his chest had been unsettling, unthinkable. The idea was even more absurd now. 

Aloy frowned. 

"If you're still trying to convince me to fight you Nil, you know I can't do that."

"Can't, won't, I suppose it makes no difference now. I no longer have the desire to fight you Aloy. Don't get me wrong though, I don't regret proposing to duel you. But I am thankful we both still draw breath." 

"Yeah, me too." 

He smiled at her then. Not the playful, mischievous kind that made it look like he was hiding some amusing secret. Rather a genuine one, soft around the edges that made his eyes turn from steel to liquid silver. It was small, hardly there, but for a moment it stunned her to see his expression so soft without the usual cheek or intensity. She had to look away. 

Nil didn’t seem to notice the effect he had had on her; he just resumed his fiddling, picking up a different piece and adjusting one of the plates that had become slightly displaced.  
Having nothing else to say, she watched him work, a calm, comfortable silence falling between them. 

She noticed how delicately he handled his armour, casting a careful eye over each piece in a way reminiscent of Petra, when Aloy had watched the forgewoman tinkering with the Oseram cannon. Calculating, examining every detail. Cautious, testing hands. 

She pulled her legs up, hugging her knees to her chest. She wondered when she became as fascinated by things with beating hearts and blood as she was by beasts with circuits and metal cores. 

 

~

 

It didn’t take Aloy much convincing to stay in Sun’s Blessing. When a villager had found them still in Nil’s hut a few hours later asking her to reconsider, she was too exhausted to argue. Despite her earlier protests they had prepared a bed for her anyways. 

She wouldn’t be convinced to stay idle any longer than that night though. The sun had only just cleared the mountain tops when she padded across the village, bow in hand. She was surprised to see she wasn’t the only early riser. Villagers milled about sleepily before her, some basking in the early rays of light flooding the village square, others already beginning to demolish the bandits’ handiwork. They nodded politely as she passed by them. 

None of them were the person she was looking for though. It was no shock to her to see the little hut empty when she arrived. Empty, but not unoccupied. She followed his trail easily enough, his footprints leaving dark patches in the dewy grass. She found her companion sitting peacefully on a rock overlooking the valley below. 

“I see the tracks I left behind were much easier for you to follow this time.” Nil said. 

“I’d almost think you wanted me to follow you here.” She replied. 

Aloy moved close enough that she could peer down at the view he was relishing in. The air was still damp with morning mist, the early sunlight filling the valley with a blue hue. It was mornings like these that Aloy thought she understood the Carja’s admiration of the glowing orb in the sky. 

When she turned her attention back to the Carja hunter, he was looking at her with a wistful look in his eyes, gaze moving from her rucksack to her bow. She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up in her throat. 

“You’re not already regretting your decision to stay here are you? It hasn’t even been a day yet.” 

He gave her a small smile. 

“I don’t mind the wait. The quiet is always welcome after the rush of a fight. It helps keep the memory of it that much fresher.” 

“It’d be a lot quieter out there.” Aloy reasoned, pointing briefly with her bow out into the open. 

“I suppose it would be.” 

He took one last look at the scene below before standing. 

“Another brief encounter for us, though far from the last.” He said as he joined her on the grass. 

“If each time didn’t mean I’d be putting an arrow through someone’s heart, I’d look forward to it.” 

He grinned. 

“You’ll feel it either way. The call to arms doesn’t care whether your target be man or machine.” 

They were standing close enough together that she could reach out and touch him. Her fingers twitched on her bow. 

A commotion from the village square turned their heads. 

Crimson feathers bobbed above the heads of the villagers who were forming a crowd further down the road, their backs turned to them. The crowd quickly parted to make way for the soldiers moving purposefully through the village. Purposefully towards the two hunters. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Aloy saw her partner shift. 

Leading the group was a bare-headed man, his armour thicker and more lavish than those behind him. The golden plates across his chest and adorning his shoulders told Aloy that he was a captain. Sure enough the whispers among the villagers confirmed her suspicions. 

“Captain Ulad!” 

“You think they’ve come to protect the village?”

“Tch, bit late for that don’t you think?”

“By the Sun, don’t let them hear you say that!” 

Captain Ulad ignored the chatter, continuing until he stood before the two hunters. 

“Strange pairing, a Nora and a Carja. Maybe the Sun-King’s regimes aren’t so absurd after all.” 

“I’m sure our partnership isn’t the reason you’ve come so far from your watchtower captain.” Aloy said brusquely. 

“Forgive my remarks. I hear you and your partner had a hand in the liberation of Sun’s Blessing.” 

“We’d heard there was trouble out this way. We just did what needed to be done.” She said, feeling yesterday’s conversation with the villager repeating itself. 

“And a fine job you did at that. However that’s not the reason we’re here. Another troupe of cutthroats have been seen moving north, likely on their way to retake the Shattered Kiln camp.” 

She remembered the camp well. It had been the site of her second encounter with the Carja hunter. It was hardly half a day’s distance from Sun’s Blessing by foot. 

“Where were these bandits last seen?” 

“Hunters spotted them making a campsite a few hours west of here, along the river.” 

Aloy turned to Nil who was standing by her shoulder, expecting him to be gleaming. Instead, her companion looked . . . on edge. Arms folded, the slightest curve of his mouth, to anyone else he’d look exactly like he was intending; at ease, nonchalant. But Aloy could see his fingers gripping his arm tightly, his jaw clenched. 

Ulad was talking again. 

“As soon as we can be sure the villagers have what they need and no remnant bandits are lurking nearby, we’ll head for Shattered Kiln. We can only hope if they attack the camp, the guards already stationed there can hold them off until we arrive.” 

Aloy stepped forward. 

“Let us take care of it. We can move faster and we’ll draw less attention should they be on the lookout for pursuers.”

Ulad wasn’t subtle in sizing them up. She thought she felt Nil stiffen even more when his cool blue eyes swept over him. 

“The two of you will take them down.” He said it like an order, but Aloy could hear the skepticism. 

“The man that doubts a stranger before him is the man that digs his own grave.” Nil said through a smirk that only Aloy would notice was strained. It was the first thing he’d said since the soldiers had arrived. 

“So too does the man that lets his arrogance drive his arm.” The captain replied. 

Aloy shifted closer to her partner so that her arm was brushing his. 

“We’ve faced bigger threats than criminals. We can handle ourselves.” She assured the Carja captain. 

“I suppose you can.” He said. Nil and Ulad were still staring at each other but not in the way two men ready to test their steel would. The clouded look in the captain’s narrowed eyes was like he was trying to recall something long in the past. Nil was wearing one of those indecipherable expressions.  
She noticed the soldiers standing behind their captain shifting uneasily, stealing glances at the Carja hunter. Just like the two guards at the Ridge, she thought. 

Ulad finally turned to Aloy. 

“I leave it to you then. We will see to it here that the villagers are taken care of. Walk in light, hunters.” Aloy inclined her head in acknowledgement as he and his men moved past them, further into the village. When they had gone, she turned to her companion who was standing with his arms by his side, seemingly somewhere else. 

Her curiosity was amply piqued but she pushed the questions to the back of her mind. A grim smile pulled at her lips. 

“I guess we’ll have to hold off on that farewell.” 

Only half a beat later the hunter’s face relaxed into his trademark smirk. Feigning disappointment, he sighed. 

“And here I thought I was finally going to be rid of you.”


	4. Side By Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else might have objected to her going out alone but Nil just nodded in understanding. He knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself; he didn’t question or doubt her instructions or decisions. That was just another thing Aloy found that made his company something she was becoming increasingly more comfortable with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy snap what a grind! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I've been doing lots of other things and for some reason I kept getting stuck on this chapter, hence there's a bit of jumping from one thing to the next. I promise the following ones will be getting much better attention, but in saying that I am back to uni this week as well so it'll be another couple of weeks until the next one comes out. I keep forgetting to mention, I don't intend for this to be a very long story so there will probs only be a few more chapters. As always, any and every comment is welcome, your lovely words are what kept me going when I kept on getting stuck. Anyways, hope youse enjoy it.

They were to follow the river until they reached the campsite Ulad’s hunters had last sighted the bandits. From there they would follow the tracks to their source. Easy enough. 

Knowing they wouldn’t have time to restock their empty quivers and pouches on the road, they took whatever the villagers could spare. The Oseram offered Nil both a new bow and a thick leather and iron cuirass of Oseram-make to substitute for his damaged gear but the hunter only took the bow. 

By the time they left the village at their backs, the mist had long evaporated, the sun climbing to its peak in the sky. If Shattered Kiln really was where the bandits were heading, Aloy knew they could reach the camp before sundown, if they moved quickly. It would save them time to go straight there, like one of the soldiers had suggested, but Aloy wasn’t trusting a hunch. They would follow the tracks. 

The soldiers. It was difficult to get the way they and their captain had acted out of her head. The way the Carja soldiers had looked at Nil, whispered about him, both at Sun’s Blessing and at the Ridge the night before the battle with the Eclipse came to her mind. He had seen it and heard it too, and he had given them his devilish smirk in return, clearly untroubled. He’d even brought up his time as a soldier with genuine indifference. So why suddenly, was he so affected by Ulad? 

Nil had told her once that he didn’t get involved in political situations, yet Aloy couldn't see why he would have become a soldier if that had been completely true. Something had happened to the Carja hunter during his service, something he seemed to be trying to put behind him. He wouldn’t have changed his name after his sentence if that wasn’t the case. 

It was frustrating, her curiosity eating away at her, but sensing it was a complicated subject, she didn’t want to demand answers from him. Try as she might though, she couldn’t seem to come up with a way to bring it up casually. So, accepting she wouldn’t soon get an answer for his behaviour, at least not by means of her own questioning, she emerged out of her head and let herself take in her surroundings. 

They’d been following a thin path that had branched off the main road some time ago, with rock the colour of iron flecked with a white crusty moss rising up like walls either side of them. As the wall receded away back into the hard ground, Aloy thought she heard the sound of running water. Sure enough, they’d made it to the river which rushed quietly by parallel to the path, a ribbon cutting through the unforgiving, uneven terrain. Thick, dark moss carpeted the pale rock with sparse grasses, shrubs and wildflowers springing up in patches. The few trees that dotted the landscape this side of the river were squat, gnarled and leafless, many leaning at odd angles. The other side of the river was similar except for the occasional cluster of alpines huddled at the base of the mountain, a hint of the fresh scent of their needled branches carrying across the water. It was a landscape that was equally beautiful as it was harsh. 

From what Ulad’s guards had told them, it wouldn’t be long until they reached the campsite. 

Aloy turned her attention to her partner beside her. Nil was in his own head, fiddling with the new bow. 

“You should test it out before we get to the camp.” She said as he pulled back on the bowstring experimentally. He glanced up at her in surprise, as if he’d forgotten she was there. 

“No rush. I’ll wait until we get there.” 

“When there are people shooting back at you?” 

“That’s half the fun isn’t it?” 

“Nil that’s not-” Aloy began but knowing that the explanation would be lost on him, dropped it. Instead, she scanned their surroundings. “You could make targets out of the knots or hollows in the trees. It makes for good accuracy practice as well.” 

He looked unconvinced. 

“Your target is much smaller than when you're hunting people." She reasoned. 

"Not if the people are wearing armour." 

"And yet that's all you ever seem to hit." 

Had she said it to anyone else she was sure she would have offended them but he only looked amused. 

"I think I'm quite proficient with a bow." He said, eyeing her sideways. 

Aloy shrugged. 

"Well, I'm better." 

He stopped, turning his body to her. 

"Is that a challenge, Nora?" She could already see him firing up, his features coming alive. 

A movement of orange caught Aloy's eye. On the other side of the river a lone fox pawed at the ground curiously, oblivious to their presence. Her lip curved up. 

"Let's see how good you are, outlander." 

She nodded to the animal. He followed her gaze then turned back to her with a quizzical look. 

The fox began walking slowly, muzzle still trained on the ground, unaware of the huntress eyeing it from across the water. She nocked an arrow, taking aim at the spot between its eyes. Then she shifted down a little. 

Soil and grass sprayed up into its face as her arrow embedded itself in front of its nose, sending the animal darting off in a panicked sprint.

The Nora turned to her companion, smiling at his furrowed brow. 

"Don't miss." 

Understanding dawned on him and he returned her smile smugly as he took an arrow from his quiver. He climbed to the top of the rocky mound by the water to get a better angle. 

His first arrow landed a foot in front of the fox, causing the animal to quickly readjust its course, running parallel to the tree line. 

Nil took his time nocking his second arrow, lingering for a moment before lifting his bow. His eyes never left his target though and as he drew his bowstring back again she saw the playfulness leave his face. 

Concentration turned his irises to steel, hardening his features. She could almost see him zoning in on his target, which was now further than even she would normally allow without the aid of her Focus. 

"You're going to lose it soon." She remarked, watching as the fox weaved in and out of view as it dashed over the uneven terrain, around plants and boulders. The hunter hardly seemed troubled. 

"Good things come to those who wait." He replied, his voice slow and distant. 

_Patience Aloy,_ echoed Rost's voice in her mind. 

The fox had momentarily disappeared as it had run down into a small ditch. Just as Aloy was raising her hand to her temple, Nil released his breath and his arrow in one swift movement. Its head had only just come back into view as it climbed out of the ditch when it stumbled suddenly and slid back down. 

"You hit it." She breathed. 

Nil hopped down from the rock, resting his bow against his shoulder. 

"You sound surprised." He said, beaming as he passed by her. 

After a few moments Aloy followed him. He waited until she fell into step with him before he spoke next. 

“My partner and I used to test each other in a similar way between raids. A pleasant way to pass the time, sate our appetites.” It took her half a beat to realise he was talking about the partner he had lost to bandits in Devil’s Thirst. 

“You said he was a tracker?” 

“Yes, but not as skilled as yourself. Fair company, ex-soldier like myself. He had an admirable hunger for the sport as well but his impatience got the better of him, as you know.”

“Did you meet him as a soldier?” She ventured, feeling an opportunity opening itself. He shook his head. 

“No, we’d hardly been travelling together for more than a few weeks before he met his untimely demise.” 

Something stirred in the back of Aloy’s memory. All that time ago, back in Mother’s Heart, Erend had told her that Avad had only been Sun-King for two years at the time of the Proving. Nil had spent two years in Sunstone Rock after Avad had called for investigations into war crimes. Which meant . . . 

"You went straight into stalking after bandits once you finished your sentence?" So far Nil’s life sounded a lot like her own; an ongoing grind with each battle flowing into the next. 

"Not right away. I was offered work at the warehouses in Brightmarket, all a part of Avad’s rehabilitation process. But I didn’t care for any of it, the throngs of people, the place, the tedious labour. I couldn’t stay in one place for long. So I spent some time wandering around the Sundom, trying to centre myself amid all the changes and reforms. 

"Some things I found didn’t change though. The desire for violence still lingered in the air like an aftertaste from the war, the ruins of the world both old and new infested with thief and slaver parasites. It made my skin itch, my throat burn. So when the opportunity presented itself, I took it. 

“My partner was already milling around an inn I had passed through, trying to catch rumours about the whereabouts of some brigands that had ravaged his village while he was away fighting in the Liberation. I simply offered him my company and my bow.” 

Aloy was about to ask him more about his ‘wanderings’ but she didn’t get the chance as he perked up beside her. He was fixating on something ahead. 

The river rushing by on one side, with large speckled boulders and trees on the other to hide it from the roads. An ideal location for those trying to avoid the eyes of any wanderers or patrols that might be passing by. They had reached the campsite. 

The first thing Aloy noticed was the mess, scattered all around the site. Food scraps, pieces stripped from machines, plant litter. She didn’t bother consulting her Focus; the bandits hadn’t put much effort into masking their presence. _That, or they hadn’t had time to._

Aloy brushed little metal filings from a stump close to the fire. _Crafting arrowheads,_ she thought. _Not surprising._

Nil crouched beside a small, flat rock off to the side, rubbing something white between his fingers. When he moved, Aloy saw that a part of the rock had been worn down, green and white crushed into the rock. 

“Freeze rime root.” He said as he stood. 

“There aren’t any Snapmaws along this river.” Aloy murmured to herself. 

“Maybe it wasn’t Snapmaws they were worried about.” Her companion said. 

She knelt by the remains of the campfire. Thick layers of fresh ash, charcoal that disintegrated in her fingers. 

“They spent more than one night here.” She said. She looked back over her shoulder, noting the assortment of animal bones picked clean and thrown into the grass. “They knew they couldn’t get the resources they needed from a merchant so they had to gather it themselves.”

Aloy’s fingers brushed her Focus, revealing a jumble of prints that criss-crossed her vision, mostly in sets of two or three at a time. As she moved further from the fire along the riverbed, she found several sets all heading in the same direction. 

Nil was squatting in the grass, balancing on the balls of his feet when Aloy turned to him. 

“They kept following the river. West.” She informed him. 

He straightened, hand moving to his sheath. 

“Towards Shattered Kiln.” 

Aloy nodded grimly. 

~

As the sun dipped closer to the horizon, Aloy was becoming less confident that Shattered Kiln was the target. The tracks kept them as close to the riverbank as possible, only venturing closer to the worn roads when rocky mounds made it too difficult to stick close. Regardless, they remained close enough that they could always hear the rush of water, see it bending ahead or behind them. 

They weren’t difficult to follow either. Where the rock had weathered into soil, Aloy could still make out their footprints, the sediment damp and impressionable so close to the river. Where there were no prints, they’d left a trail of scrap easy enough to follow. 

Every now and then, a pair of footprints would veer off suddenly, only to reconvene with the rest further on. When Nil would come back from investigating, he would always report the same two things; harvested plants or downed animals. 

The only exception was when they’d changed direction completely, hurried prints ending in a field of ravaged Charger carcasses. Deep slices in their frames and fine metal powder told her Scrappers had already salvaged much of what had been left behind, making it impossible to tell what the bandits had looted from the machines. 

They were preparing themselves for something, that was beyond doubt. But it didn’t look to Aloy like they were planning an assault, at least not anytime soon. They’d been indiscriminate in their hunting of animals, harvesting meat from whatever they downed, skinning the rabbits and foxes. Had their goal been the camp, food shouldn't have been a concern for them. And then there was the freeze rime root, more of the white-flowered plants picked than any other. 

The Nora huntress felt a nagging sensation at the back of her mind, like she was missing something obvious but whatever it was, it did not come to her. 

She knew they were close as the landscape became more familiar, yet the tracks had not taken them across the river despite the numerous opportunities they’d had. Something told her they weren’t going to either. 

As the camp came into their view, she consulted her Focus. There was nothing to tell her the camp was under attack nor about to be. No unwanted bodies skulking around among the trees skirting the walls or overlooks. 

“Clean.” Nil said simply. He looked disappointed. 

_For now,_ she thought. 

“Find whoever commands the soldiers here. Ask them if they’ve seen any groups of travellers passing by, if anything has gone missing in the past couple of days.” 

“And you?” 

“I want to check the perimeter to be sure they’re not out their waiting for dark.”

Anyone else might have objected to her going out alone in the event she did run into their foes but Nil just nodded in understanding. He knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself; he didn’t question or doubt her instructions or decisions. It was just another reason his company felt so natural and she found herself taking comfort in it. She felt grateful for such a person. 

They went their separate ways, Aloy taking the road that took her across the river. She walked along the bank, weaved in and out of the trees. Nothing. The only silhouettes her Focus picked up where those of the wild animals. 

It wasn't making sense, any of it. If this wasn't their intended destination, where could they possibly be going? Her map and wanderings had told her that this was the last civilisation this far north in Carja territory. Nothing else lie beyond except the snowy mountains and-

Aloy could have smacked herself for not thinking of it earlier. Maker's End. That's where they were heading, it had to be. The hoarding of food, the freeze rime root no doubt to protect against Glinthawks, blaze that they must have harvested from the Chargers for fires that would keep the cold and machines at bay. The ruins had hidden the Eclipse away for who knows how many weeks as they revived machines buried deep into the earth. It could easily house another troupe of criminals, not to mention it was still likely teeming with weapons and valuable loot. 

Aloy had kept walking as she came to her realisation and now she had stumbled upon something else. In the fading light she could just make out deep boot prints, sweeping lines, like those left by someone carrying something heavy. She traced them back to a section of the wall that was in worse condition than the rest. She needed to get back to Nil. 

He was already waiting for her, arms crossed, when she arrived back at the point they had split up. The spot she realised, she had convened with him to plan their attack the first time round. 

“Good news, I hope?” He said as she approached. 

"I found some tracks that took me to a part of the wall that looked like someone had forced their way over it." 

He nodded. 

“The merchant reported that some of his armours had been stolen-"

"Let me guess, those suited for cold weather?" Aloy interjected. 

"An interesting deduction but they didn't say. As for our band of vagrants, a patrol spotted them scuttling over the rocks the night before the incident.” 

"Then let's go pay this merchant a visit." 

~

It was just like Aloy had suspected. Hidden by the dark of the night, they'd sent a pair into the settlement to rob the merchant's stall of just about anything thick, furry or leather. 

"Those thieving bastards! May they burn under the Sun's judgement." 

"I'm sorry about your shop." Aloy said as he shook his finger at the sky. Behind her, Nil was quietly inspecting the display of bows. 

The merchant sighed heavily, shaking his head. 

"Well there's not much that can be done about it now. I'll have to ask some of the hunters about bagging me some extra skins while they're out." 

Aloy moved into his line of sight. 

"Actually those thieves, we've been tracking them since this morning. Is there anything you can tell us about them?" 

The merchant ran a hand under his cap. 

"I didn't actually see them myself but they took quite a fair bit so I'd wager there are more than those that came into the camp. By the Sun, did they wreck the place up too when they came, took me the whole morning to clean the place up." 

"This morning?" 

"No, yesterday morning." 

Aloy realised that meant they could still be a whole two days ahead of the hunters. She looked to the sky, a flaming orange fading to grey as the oncoming night consumed the day. Only the faintest sliver of moon had peeked down at them the night before. Even with her Focus, it would be too difficult to continue without the light of the full moon. Night was falling quicker with every passing day, the air getting cooler. With a sigh, she realised they were going to have to make camp for the night. 

Turning to her partner she said, “It’ll be too dark soon to continue tracking them. We’ll have to stay here for tonight.” 

Nil raised his brows at her but otherwise said nothing, made no objections. 

The merchant kicked idly at the ground. 

"Well if there's anything I can do to help, feel free to rug up with what's left. If it suits you." 

Aloy looked down at her clothes. She couldn't remember the last time she had changed but by how faded and stiff the pink and black silks were becoming, she thought she was long overdue for something new. Rainwater apparently just didn't suffice in keeping them clean after long periods of wear. In the corner she spied something that looked somewhat Nora-inspired. 

"I thought the Nora was used to a bit of snow." Nil said from somewhere behind her.

"Carja silks aren't exactly suited for fending against the cold." She said as she sized up the outfit. It looked about the right size, too small to be of interest to the bandits. "Neither is Carja skin so you should do the same." 

The hunter lifted a shoulder. 

“It's never bothered me before.” 

Aloy twisted around. 

“You won’t last more than a couple of hours if you don’t cover up.”

He cocked an eyebrow, as if in challenge. She scowled. 

“I’m not dragging you back half frozen to death, Nil.” 

"Wouldn't that be thrilling?" 

Aloy bit her cheek, standing very still. Petra had once told her that when her early prototypes of the Oseram cannon suddenly started malfunctioning, more often than not it just needed a good hammering to set it straight again. She was considering testing out whether that would work on humans too. Then she thought, maybe Nil's problem was that he'd gotten too many hammerings which was why he was so damn frustrating to deal with sometimes. 

She threw a fur cloak at him and he caught it against his chest, fingers disappearing in the thick fur. 

“Just _trust me_.” She breathed out. 

At that, his face softened but she'd already turned on her heel to find somewhere to change. 

~

Before the last light was gone, they took to the woods which Aloy was pleased to see was beginning to revive itself. The last time they had come, the trees outside the camp walls had been reduced to bare trunks, stripped of their branches with some completely chopped down by the previous inhabitants for the camp’s construction. They brought two rabbits and a turkey to the fire that night, sharing the fruits of their hunt with the villagers. Many of the villagers recognised them, eager to hear of their adventures since their last meeting. Unsurprisingly, Nil had slipped away before they could pin him down. 

As she sat among the villagers, Aloy remembered the last time she had set foot here. Air thick with the metallic scent of blood, mixing with smoke billowing up into the sky in dark clouds from numerous fires, the camp a gross mess of jagged edges and sharp points rising from the hard, rocky terrain. Everywhere she'd look, all she had seen was an angry red; painted scrappily across the wooden structures, hanging from flagpoles and draping over doorways and windows, splashes and smears in the dirt. 

All that had changed. 

The villagers that had made this their home had put a great deal of work into making the camp more inviting. The foreboding structures that had stood by the gates - Watchers ripped apart and lashed to poles, suspended cages, tattered rags - had been torn down. No bandit sentries stood upon the platforms or roamed the palisades, only curious villagers and those in the bulky attire of Carja guards. 

They'd brought colour into the camp with multi-coloured squares of fabric hanging from strings linking the buildings to each other, and the bright silks they all dressed themselves in. The only smoke now came from the bonfire and spit before them, the scent of smoked meat and the spice of Carja wine drifting on the cool night breeze. 

Had she not cleared the camp herself, Aloy never would have believed it had once been overrun with slavers. 

Some of the villagers sat with her, with those that were the original inhabitants expressing their thanks to her once again. 

She disliked the reverence and attention she'd be flooded with from those she had helped in the past. She understood that they wanted to give her their gratitude but she didn't want it. She'd only done what was right, what she'd been raised to do. Rost had drilled into her head that above everything, she needed to be selfless, to be willing to help those that needed it without expecting anything in return. As she looked at the faces around her, cheeks flushed from the wine they sipped, laughing heartily at some joke or story their comrades were telling, she thought she'd done just that. 

Someone moved into the empty space beside her, bringing her out of her head. She didn't have to look up to know who it was. 

"I didn't think we'd see you again tonight." She said. 

One of the men on the log next to theirs lurched drunkenly from his seat, wine sloshing from the bottle in his hands. They watched as he staggered away, murmuring to himself. 

"And miss such fine company? Never." Nil said as he settled himself by her side. 

"I'm relieved they've been able to turn such a terrible place into their own." Aloy said. 

"Yes, it does have that domestic, buzzing feeling to it." 

"Have you been back to any of the other camps?" She was still yet to learn what the hunter did when he wasn't chasing down his next kill. 

"Occasionally but I don't make a habit of it. The memories to be made there are so pale in comparison to those we created together, don't you think? Such delicious moments when one can glimpse the moment the predator comes to realise they've become the prey." 

Aloy of course, had to disagree. She frequently passed through the liberated camps, if only to check on how the inhabitants were transforming them into settlements that resembled nothing of what they were before. To Aloy, those transformations filled her with a sense of fulfilment, physical evidence that the world was recovering. It was strange, she thought, that good things could emerge from such brutality. 

She looked then at her partner and she suddenly recalled a conversation they'd had after one of their 'camp cleansings' as Nil liked to call them. She hadn't thought much about it at the time but now that she had time to mull it over, she wondered why she hadn't asked him to elaborate on it sooner. 

She bumped her knee against his to catch his attention. 

“Can I ask you something?” She inquired. 

“Always.” 

Aloy almost didn't ask at that. She'd been hounding him with questions for the past couple of days, and each time he'd answered her without hesitation. Would he this time once he heard what it was? She decided there was only one way to find out. 

“You told me once that your time in Sunstone Rock helped you to focus on what was important to you.” She saw something in his face shift, no doubt at the memory of his sentence but he didn't say anything so she kept going. “What exactly was that?” 

The Carja went still, looking away from her and into the fire. It was only then that she realised how personal a question it was. 

"I'm sorry, you don’t have to-" she began but he cut her off. 

“The freedom of choice, of purpose.” He said quietly. Aloy’s eyes widened in surprise. That wasn’t what she was expecting. He continued. 

“When you’re a soldier, the blood you spill is at the request of someone else, for a reason that's not your own. You could agree with it but it’s still out of your control. You could disagree with it, tell yourself that it’s for your own cause but the interests of the unit as a whole glazes over it and you’re told it’s by the will of your god and your King.” He finally turned back to her, expression serious. 

“You can’t let somebody else tell you what your purpose is. It’s something you make for yourself and only you can make it.” 

Aloy was slightly taken aback by his words. It made her think back to the moment she had stepped back into All-Mother temple, watching as her people fell to their knees at the sight of her, worshipping and praising her. She remembered Sylens’ complete disregard for her own intentions as he used her like a tool. 

“It can be a little hard when your actions are so tightly interwoven with the fate of the world.” She said dryly. 

His voice softened. 

“It must have been hard to feel the weight of so many on your shoulders. I imagine being hailed as the closest thing to a living deity didn’t help.” 

She snorted. 

“You have no idea." 

As she looked into the fire crackling before them, spitting little cinders and curls of smoke into the air, she thought about the Proving, the massacre. Her hand went subconsciously to the scar etched into the skin on her neck, flinching at the memory of Helis' blade pressed to her throat, ready to spill her blood in the snow. 

"I don't regret fighting the war against the Eclipse. But so many horrible things happened, things that I never could have imagined. In the end it was all so much bigger than the closure I wanted from the start. But I lost someone who . . . who helped shape me into the person I am. For a long time he was the only one I had and even afterwards, the anger I felt at him being taken away kept me going. When we stopped the Eclipse and Hades, it was like I could finally let go of the grief and anger, and move on from the past. But sometimes, it still hurts when I remember what it was like before it all changed." 

Nil was very quiet beside her, so much that she thought he had stopped listening. Then suddenly, his fingertips brushed her neck, moving over her scar. At his touch, another memory resurfaced; Helis' hand squeezed around her throat, her feet kicking uselessly as she dangled from the ground. She stiffened but she didn't pull away from him. This wasn't a threatening touch. This was safe. 

When she looked up at him, his face was a strange mixture of things, none she could quite identify. 

He moved his thumb over the blade mark, his fingers holding the back of her neck. 

“Some wounds take longer to heal than others. Sometimes those wounds leave scars but that doesn’t mean you can’t draw strength from them.” He said in a low voice. 

When Aloy looked up into his eyes, the light turning them brown, she saw something stirring behind them. She wondered how many scars he wore from his past and how many of them had to do with his behaviour back at Sun's Blessing. 

Aloy touched her hand to the back of his, feeling the marks on his knuckles, the calluses that had formed from years of archery on the sides of his fingers. Just like hers. 

The sound of glass shattering made Aloy remember that they weren't alone. They both turned to the source, a broken bottle with its contents spilling into the soil. The owner of the bottle had apparently passed out while holding it. 

Aloy gripped Nil's hand, pulling it away. 

"We should get some sleep too." She said. 

"So we should." Came his reply. 

They broke apart as they stood. As they began moving off, Nil cast a glance over his shoulder to the passed out man snoring with content. With a wry smile, he approached the man. 

"You go on. I think someone needs to take care of our friend here." 

"And that someone is going to be you?" she said skeptically. Aloy wasn't sure she liked the mischievous tweak to his smile. She left him anyways, following the warm glow from the torches lining the pathways curving around the ancient, discoloured rubble to the shack that had been prepared for them. 

Despite the cool night air, Aloy felt warm. Maybe it was the new leathers she had slipped on, but it might've been something else. 

She resisted the urge to put her hand to her neck as she felt the ghost of Nil's touch. A comforting touch, like she'd seen so many do before, nothing more.

She rounded a bend in the path and someone stepped out of the shadows towards her. Aloy's feet froze, hand moving instinctively to her lance, which she realised once she grabbed thin air, she had left in the shack. She relaxed though as she identified the person as one of the villagers. 

Aloy recognised her as one of the women that had been sitting by the fire, across from them. Her eyes were wide, hands gripping the fabric of her dress. It was like Aloy had been the one that had jumped out of the shadows. 

“You’re one of the hunters that came for the thieves?" Her voice was unsteady, but the Nora could tell she was mature. Sona's age maybe. 

"Yes, my partner and I have been tracking them." 

The woman nodded, too many times. Her hands twisted her dress even more. 

"You seem worried." The huntress commented and the woman flinched, mouth dropping open. 

"No, no, I-I just noticed you walking, you seemed preoccupied earlier so I didn't- so I thought . . . Well I saw you walking and-" 

“If there’s something you want to ask . . . ” Aloy tried, taking half a step forward. 

The woman watched her quietly, tapping her now clenched fists together, one on top of the other. Her dress was all wrinkled from where she'd been gripping it. Her mouth open and closed, as if unsure of what to say. Finally after a few moments, she was able to form words. 

"My husband, Saravid, he knows the merchant here well. When he heard about the thieves, he was so upset. He and another man set out after them. I begged him not to go but he wouldn't listen to me." 

The huntress' eyes widened. 

“Why didn’t you tell the guards about this?” 

The woman looked down at that. 

“Saravid and I, we fled Sunfall after we heard of the attack on Meridian. Some of the guards here are still . . . paranoid about some of us that were stuck under the Sun's shadow for so long.” 

Before Aloy could say anything, the woman stepped forward suddenly. 

“Please, he's a good man huntress, we're both good people! If something happened to him, I don’t know what I’d do. We thought we were through with dealing with criminals after we left the shadows behind.” 

Aloy felt a pang at the woman's desperation. She let the woman reach out to her, her hands cold from the night air. How long had she been waiting for her? 

“We’ll look for him,” she assured her. “But we don’t know how long it will be until we come back. Don’t lose sleep waiting for our return, worrying won't make the days any shorter.” 

The villager’s face looked like it was about to split open from her sudden change in expression. Aloy quickly stepped away before the woman could latch onto her.

“Thank you huntress! Thank you, may the Sun light your way!” She clasped her hands together, walking backwards a few paces before turning and walking away briskly. 

When Aloy finally laid down that night, too many thoughts were floating around in her mind. If Saravid and the other man reached the bandits before her and Nil could, she knew they wouldn’t stand a chance. The thieves would become murderers and that would be two more innocent men needlessly meeting their ends at the blade of outlaws. They had to get to the bandits quickly. _Before they realise they’re being followed,_ she said to herself. 

Yet it had been two days since they were last seen. 

Aloy understood the man's anger but a simple villager going after them with only one other? That was just reckless. She only hoped if he hadn't already reached them, he'd seen enough sense to realise it himself. 

The Nora rolled onto her side, seeing the empty bed across from her. It felt like hours until her mind finally quietened down but her partner did not return.


	5. Death Chills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was like falling into a pit of needles. Needles sinking deeper than skin, the cold seeping into her bones, freezing her blood. She should have known better. Now all she could do was watch, helplessly, knowing she should have done better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good LORD its been so long! I'm very sorry for the HUGE wait but uni was getting so hectic and so many other things were going on, I didn’t have time for anything else. I admit I got a bit carried away, I didn't intend this chapter to be so long but it didn’t feel write to chop it in half.  
> Hopefully it'll make up for the wait, enjoy.

Blood. Red and clinging stickily to the blades of grass and soil. Enough of it to leave a trail, enough to worry Aloy, to make her gut twist sickeningly. Scrabbles in the dirt, the occasional ripped cloth. And a body.

Saravid and his partner had confronted the bandits. From what Aloy could tell, they'd gotten lucky, utilising the element of surprise to take out one of the bandits. In the end though, they'd lost yet for some reason Aloy couldn't quite comprehend, the bandits decided they'd be more useful as captives than lying bloodied in the dirt. In part, it made the hunters' task of getting to them easier; their targets were now moving much slower and much less subtly. 

The blood had been fresh, only a few hours old. They had to be close now, Aloy had thought. Any minute now she was sure they'd see the metal ruins of Maker's End looming in the distance. But the bandits took them further north past the towering metal ruins and deeper into the wild. 

Aloy couldn't help the heavy feeling in her stomach. It had come the moment she'd learned about Saravid and it had intensified when she'd seen the blood. She couldn’t seem to shake the feeling off. 

She'd already failed twice before in reaching her target in time. Ersa, Atral. She remembered the heaviness that had filled her bones, the disappointment and anger that she'd felt when she had gotten there just those few moments too late. To track them down only to watch as what little life they had left seeped out of them. 

She couldn’t let that happen. Not again. 

Nil hardly reacted when Aloy had told him about Saravid and he'd been even less surprised when they'd found the site of their clash. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference to him one way or another. Although sensing how tense the situation was making his companion, he didn't make any remarks about the blood, he hadn't even gotten that hungry look when they'd stumbled upon the site. Instead he watched Aloy wordlessly, allowing her to try and make sense of the scene and the subsequent tracks they followed. 

There didn't seem to be any logic to the zigzagging, seemingly random route they were following. At times they would be taken down narrow, overgrown trails only to double back. Aloy had been convinced that they were lost, there was no other explanation for it. Until now. 

The two hunters were crouching in the cover of some densely growing alpines that hugged the base of the mountain range. Aloy rubbed at her arms, resisting the urge to dig her nails into her skin where light snowflakes landed and dissolved. Snow-chill itches. Following the bandits’ trail had brought them far enough north that hoarfrost crackled in the grass beneath their feet and their breaths misted before them. The occasional breeze blew snow from the white-capped mountains rising around them. A narrow, almost non-existent path winded past the trees and up to a small campsite where their targets were huddling. A frozen lake lay to the right. Even from this distance, Aloy could see the deep cracks running like veins across the ice. On higher ground past the bandits she could just see the horns of a horde of Lancehorns bobbing in and out of view. 

Aloy was grateful she'd changed her armour. The Nora leathers and furs were a tight fit but they kept the cold out, other than the wind that slipped between the gaps in her armour, caressing her skin. She eyed the sun as it sunk closer and closer to the horizon, sapping the air of the little warmth it had brought with the day. She was better suited for the bite of the wind than her companion who was restlessly drumming his fingers on his bow. She couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or the desire to sink metal into flesh.  

Nil was squatting down behind her, an elbow on his knee. He was leaning close enough that Aloy could feel the heat radiating from him. Close enough that if she turned to him, they could be touching. 

"What do you see?" he whispered, eyes searching her face.

Aloy touched her hand to her Focus and blue spotted her vision. But not enough.

"Some of them are missing but I can see Saravid and his partner. And . . . there's two archers, but they all have blades." She scanned the machines milling about the snow. "There's a herd of Lancehorns but . . ." She frowned. 

Nil's voice rumbled in her ear. "And beyond?" 

Aloy shook her head. 

"Nothing. They must have sent the rest of their party ahead." 

She'd been wrong, again. The terrain was unfamiliar, far from the reaches of any civilisation she was aware of. Other than the tracks and campsite of the bandits, it looked as if the place had been untouched by humans for quite some time which made it that much stranger that they had found themselves here. 

“What would bring them this far north?” Aloy said half to herself. 

“They’re vermin, Aloy. They scuttle away into the crevices of the world no one else would have the sense to venture. ” 

“No one except us.” 

“No one except us.” Nil repeated, grinning wickedly. 

Aloy counted the figures. There were eight of them, including Saravid and his partner. The tracks they'd followed made it difficult to tell for sure how large the party had been but Aloy knew there had to be more than that. Her Focus told her though that the missing members weren't in the immediate area. 

So did they wait until they returned? Or should they take out the bandits here and set a trap for when the others returned? The Nora was about to propose a quick scout of the area when a commotion drew her attention to the campfire. 

They watched as one of the larger bandits bundled up the villager’s shirt in his fist, picking him up from the ground and shaking him fiercely. He scrambled to keep himself upright as his captor leaned in close. Whatever their exchange, the bandit didn’t appear to be satisfied with it. Their heads clashed before he threw the dazed villager to the ground. A heavy boot connected with his chest and even from this distance, Aloy thought she could hear the thump. 

A pained grunt carried across to them and the Nora's grip on her bow tightened at the same time she felt a squeeze on her shoulder. It was only then that she noticed Nil's hand there. He looked tense, muscles taut, raring to go. Normally his eagerness before a fight was somewhat unsettling but this time Aloy understood. She was ready to finish this. 

They couldn’t wait. She didn't know how roughly the bandits had handled Saravid and his partner before now but if this was any indication of their hospitality then they needed to take them out as soon as possible. 

Aloy shifted around to face Nil. 

"Do you still have your flash grenades?" she asked. His hand went to his waist. The corner of his mouth quirked when he realised what she was thinking. 

"You know what to do then?" 

"Whatever you need me to do." Came the Carja's reply, eyes flashing like storm clouds. 

"Then we need to get closer." Aloy said quietly and her partner nodded agreement. 

Aloy never took her eyes off their foes as they weaved through the trees, trusting Nil to pick their route through the trunks and thickets. By the time they'd come to another patch of tall grass the bandit had grown bored with his brutality, sitting heavily on a fallen log with Saravid’s partner forgotten at his back. Aloy waited until she saw the villager move before she drew a steadying breath. 

_You're not going to hurt anyone anymore,_ she thought as she drew an arrow from her quiver. 

Taking his cue, Nil reached into his pouch for a flash grenade, continuing further past her to get a clearer view of the camp. 

Meanwhile, Saravid had shuffled closer to his beaten partner. Doing the best he could with his hands bound, he nudged him into a sitting position. Aloy made a clicking sound with her tongue. When they didn't hear her she tried again. This time Saravid's head whipped up, searching for the source. Aloy clicked again and he whirled around. The huntress shot him a look and he quickly shut his gaping mouth, smoothing the relief from his face. She made a gesture to cover his eyes. He nodded. He put his head down, whispering to his partner to do the same. 

Further away, Aloy nodded to Nil who was waiting patiently for her signal. Rising up a little, he lobbed the grenade into the camp and it bumped against the stones ringing the teepeed wood. The three bandits sitting around the fire looked quizzically at it. Aloy turned away. 

The grenade went off, the light flash blinding those around the fire and alerting the others roaming about. The two hunters sprang from the trees, Nil taking out one of the archers. Aloy wasted no time, using Nil's knife to slice through Saravid and his partner's bonds. 

"Huntress! Thank you, you-" but Aloy interrupted him, pulling him roughly to his feet. 

"There's no time for that. Get to the trees and take cover. Don’t come out until we come get you." she instructed. He only looked at her with incomprehension. "Go!" Aloy shouted. 

Saravid scrambled, tugging his partner toward the alpines. Aloy didn't wait to see if they reached the tree line. The three bandits were already recovering from the flash. They fell to her arrows and the huntress was taking aim at one of the bandits circling her partner when something whizzed past, narrowly missing Nil's shoulder. 

Aloy turned, spotting the second archer further up the slope, crouching beside a jagged boulder. Aloy fired and would have sent her arrowhead straight through the woman's neck if she hadn't rolled to a different vantage point, turning her attention to the Nora. The woman fired a quick barrage of arrows, forcing Aloy to retreat back to the trees. 

"Get back!" Aloy shouted to Saravid as an arrow stuck in the tree she was crouching behind. The archer moved again, as five more of her comrades appeared from over the bend. _Five?_ Aloy switched on her Focus and saw a stream of blue coming from further up on the ridge. They'd been just out of range of her Focus until now. 

Aloy searched for her partner who was comfortably holding his own, too quick for them to get anywhere near him. He was playing with them. 

Another arrow flew by Aloy's face and she drew tighter behind the narrow tree trunk. 

"Nil!" 

The Carja spun around as if he wasn't in the middle of a battle. Aloy must have made a face because he threw a quick glance over his shoulder, parrying a slash with his scimitar before planting a kick on the bandit's sternum. 

"More incoming!" She shouted. The Carja nodded, quickly finishing off the one closest to him. 

Without anywhere for Nil to take cover, the archer turned on him again. Aware of this, Nil moved closer to the last bandit around him, pulling him roughly to him like a shield as the archer fired at him, before pushing him into the path of the newly emerged thief charging for him. 

Running from her cover, Aloy took out those on the tail end of the swarm before focusing on the archer. She tried taking a shot at her but the woman had moved again to cut off Aloy's angle, forcing the Nora further out into the open. 

_She's getting you exactly where she wants you,_ she thought as the archer ducked out of sight. When she emerged again, Aloy dodged her shot comfortably but she hardly had time to move her hand to her quiver before she had to lunge sideways. 

_Keep moving, keep moving,_ Aloy thought as another arrow embedded itself in the soil close to where her feet had just been. She had to admit, the bandit was quick but she was sacrificing accuracy for speed. Her next shot missed by more than a couple of feet. 

The Nora saw her attacker cry out in frustration and she took her chances. Aloy nocked an arrow, taking a split second longer to aim. The woman ducked behind the boulder again. Readying her next, Aloy crouched in the snow, aiming at head height. Moments passed and Aloy's arms began to shake with the effort of maintaining her position. She gritted her teeth. _Come on, come on._

Something landed heavily in the snow in front of her and she immediately withdrew, hand moving to her spear. But no feathered shaft or blinking light lay before her. A rock?

Aloy had only been distracted for a few seconds but it was long enough for the woman to dart from her cover and up the path. _She ran out of arrows!_ Aloy lined her shot up with the bobbing head, her shot flying straight and true. At the last moment the woman slipped, Aloy's shot deflecting off another boulder. 

The woman spared a moment to throw a glance over her shoulder, flashing a greasy smirk at the Nora. Aloy snarled as the woman continued up the path. Knowing she'd lose her quickly, Aloy tapped her Focus, locking onto the fleeing silhouette. Spotting a faster route that would intervene with the woman's course, she took off across the ice. 

Reaching the ridge, she scaled the rocky face with ease. Hauling herself over the edge, the Nora glanced up to get her bearings. 

Then she saw them. 

A sea of amber and red lights atop lithe metal bodies flooding in a panicked sprint towards her. With the herd of Lancehorns too close for her to jump out of their path she attempted to descend back the way she came but her boots slipped on the snow and she felt herself falling. 

The air was forced from her with a sound somewhere between a grunt and a yelp as her back hit the ice, the thick fur doing little to cushion her fall. Breathless, she threw herself aside as the first machine leapt from the ledge onto the frozen lake, landing on slender, springy legs before continuing on. Aloy scrambled to her feet as more came cascading down the ridge around her, kicking up flecks of ice. 

She rolled to her left, narrowly dodging the spiralled horns of another machine as it tore past her. Surrounded by them and with the next charging towards her, Aloy abandoned her bow for her spear. The Lancehorn bounded towards her, leaping into the air. Building as much speed as she could in such a short distance, she slid beneath the machine and thrust her spear into its belly. Sparks rained down on her as it continued its arc over her, crashing into the ground and bringing another with it. 

The Nora finished them off quickly before she saw an amber light from the corner of her eye. As she rolled out of its pathway and into a crouch, she looked up to see the glint of an arrowhead aimed at her. Before she had time to react, Nil had dropped his shoulder into the bandit, sending the arrow off its intended course. She'd hardly hit the ground before Nil sunk his scimitar into her chest. 

Aloy leaned heavily against the machine. She hadn't quite managed to catch her breath yet, the thin air and tightness of her bodice limiting the depth of her breaths. 

But she wasn't finished yet. 

Persevering, taking as large a breath as she could manage, Aloy straightened. Retrieving her bow, she was about to run to join her partner on the soil when she saw one of the outlaws crouching low on the path, gaze fixed on the Carja hunter. Two of Aloy's arrows sunk into his chest before he could release his own. 

As she took another step she saw two more running towards her, waving their blades high above their heads. As they fell she heard a gurgling cry towards the tree line where Nil was pulling his scimitar free from the gut of his foe. 

Bow nocked but lowered, Aloy turned in a circle, searching for any movement. When she found none, her Focus confirmed that they were all that remained. Exhaling, she let her tense shoulders drop. 

Then a chorus of undulating cries filled the air and Aloy immediately grimaced. _Thieves, Lancehorns. Why not Glinthawks too._

She reached into her quiver for her fire arrows, quickly readying three as the flying scavengers circled above them, undoubtedly attracted by the fallen machines. 

A pair began hurling wads of chillwater in her direction, forcing the Nora huntress back from the metal carcasses. Two more snapped their beaks in the direction of the Carja hunter while another swooped in low, talons latching onto the Lancehorn. With strong beats of its wings the Glinthawk slowly rose, leaving long lines in the ice where the Lancehorn dragged behind it. But the machine was too heavy; the Lancehorn's drills had snagged on the body of the second fallen machine. The added weight was too much and the carcass was released from the scavenger's grip, smashing through the ice. 

Aloy felt the crack as much as she heard it. She bristled, anticipating a shifting of the ice below her but no such movement came. 

The Glinthawks regrouped, turning on the two hunters. Aloy set fire to the one closest to her and they withdrew temporarily. 

"Aloy!" Nil's voice carried across to her and she nodded to him. She had to get off the ice; weakened by the stampede of Lancehorns and the dropped machine, the cracks had deepened and lengthened in the ice. Not to mention the lack of traction was making it difficult for her to keep on her feet and hold a stable position. 

Nil took the path up onto the ridge, firing at the machines to draw them away as Aloy picked her way across the surface towards more stable ground. Her tussle with the Lancehorns had brought her closer to the middle of the lake than she had thought, closer to thinner ice. 

The Glinthawks quickly lost interest in her, opting for the hunter that was continuously firing at them. As long as Nil could keep them distracted she could make it off the frozen lake and join him. 

Aloy moved swiftly but carefully, not trusting the fissures or too clear ice. As she moved, she strained her ears for the sound of approaching machines, cries of pain. After a time of hearing nothing but the machines she felt a sharp pang in her chest until there was a crashing sound followed by Nil's amused shout. 

Itching to join the fight she hurried. 

Aloy had closed the distance by half when she felt a splash at her back and in front of her. She cried out as the chillwater hit her exposed skin, the chilling sensation like icy fingers wriggling beneath her skin and gripping her muscles. She rolled to the side, whipping around and firing a shot at the Glinthawk that was now doubling back, unleashing balls of the poisonous liquid that exploded and misted around her, barring her way. The arrowhead grazed its wings as the machine changed its course. 

When she checked her quiver for a quick inventory she found less than two dozen arrows; more than half her supply had snapped or bent when she'd fallen. _Got to make these ones count,_ she grimaced as she ducked and rolled out of the reach of the Glinthawk's talons. 

Aloy shot at the red lights but her limited space was making it difficult for her to take the time to aim precisely; too many arrows later it finally dropped out of the sky, blinded. She winced when it hit the lake, bracing herself for the impact. The ice crunched beneath it, its beak stabbing through to the water but the damage did not spread. 

She had to get back to solid ground. Every moment the ice grew weaker and the threat of falling through stronger. She needed to get off the ice . . . 

Aloy was breathing hard as she focused on the grass, the soil, the pathway. She knew something was wrong but she pushed it to the back of her mind. She just had to get there, she was almost there . . . 

Winded, that was obvious, but there was something else, there had to be. Why couldn't she get her breath back? 

Aloy stumbled through a newly appeared wall of chillwater, the particles sticking in her throat and her nose. She could hear another Glinthawk ahead of her. Why did it have to be Glinthawks? 

Aloy remembered the thrill she'd felt at fighting such an evasive foe the first few times she'd encountered them but now they just made her blood boil. She wasted too many arrows, too much time trying to pin the damn things. No matter how much metal or wire she salvaged from their wrecked bodies, it was almost never enough to restore her resources. Why couldn't it have been Scrappers? Sawtooths? Even a Thunderjaw she'd rather than the flying, spitting machines. 

Its screech grated against her ears and Aloy reflexively ducked and she heard a crackling sound. She had stepped onto a particularly sensitive area of the lake, cracks like webs beneath her feet. 

She did another check of her inventory. Four arrows. 

If she shot the machine down now the impact could cause the ice to break, plunging her into the freezing water. She couldn’t stay where she was or it would finish her off and she couldn't keep throwing herself out of its way or she'd end up sending herself through the ice. 

She was stuck. 

Aloy tried to contain her frustration. She needed to focus to get herself out of her situation. _Glinthawks._. She rolled out of the way as another ball of chillwater hurtled towards her. She couldn't risk using her bombs nor could she use her ropecaster to tie it down. Unless . . . 

The machine soared over her towards the tree line before looping back and preparing another assault. If she could hit it with her grappling hook, maybe it could drag her across the ice . . . 

Aloy didn’t need to take the time to consider how many things could go wrong but she had no other option. She heard the sound of metal slicing empty air as she manoeuvred out of the way. She felt herself slide as her boots slipped on the thin layer of snow dusting the ice, struggling to keep herself upright. The Glinthawk ascended again, screeching as it circled to hit her from behind. 

Slinging her bow across her, she reached for her grappling hook. If she could hook it as it flew over her, it might be able to pull her a safe enough distance across. _Trust the machine that's trying to kill you to save you. You must be crazy,_ she thought. When she dodged its attack this time, she felt the ground beneath her give slightly. _Just a little longer._

As the machine soared away from her she released the hook. It clattered against the Glinthawk's wings, failing to latch onto anything. As it slipped down it caught on the metal plating just before its tail. The line became taut and Aloy felt herself tugged forward. 

“Woah!” She fell hard onto her stomach, her breastplate scraping across the ground. 

"It's working!" She laughed incredulously. The Glinthawk slowed and dropped a little from the weight but nonetheless kept flying. Aloy swivelled around so she was sliding along on her backside. 

"Hold it still huntress!" Aloy turned to the voice. Emerged from hiding Saravid stood on the bank, a bow taken from the body of one of the bandits. And he was aiming for the Glinthawk. 

"No don't-" but her cry was lost in the shriek of the machine as it tried to free itself of her. She watched helplessly as he drew the bowstring back. 

"Stop, don't shoot it down!" 

He released, the exposed freeze sac bursting as the arrows pierced it. The rope went slack in Aloy's hands. She dropped the line, preparing to put as much distance between her and the metal body hurtling down. 

The Glinthawk pummelled into the ice with a resounding crack, flinging shards of ice and metal into the air. Badly damaged with most of its armoured plates dislodged but it was not finished. Its metal talons scrabbled on the ice, flecks of ice flicking up around it as it struggled to find purchase. It was beating its wings uselessly, trying to get some leverage from the unstable ground but in its panic it was clumsy. Aloy heard the tell-tale signs of the ice breaking and she froze. 

The Glinthawk stumbled as the ice beneath it shattered. The desperate beating of its wings only quickened its demise as the hole widened and soon it sunk below the surface of the water. The fissure continued to spread. The impact had been too much, weakening the surrounding surface. Within seconds, jagged lines travelled like lightning from the hole through to the area around the huntress. 

Aloy tried a last second roll but the ground beneath her feet gave out as she tried to push off. Her lower half fell into the water as her top half smacked against the ice, her arms shooting out to grab onto something, anything. 

Needles. 

It was like falling into a pit of needles. Needles sinking deeper than skin, the cold seeping into her bones, freezing her blood. 

Her lungs heaved, her throat tightening at the touch of the water, stealing her breath from her lungs. She tried to haul herself out but the ice just crumbled beneath her elbows and she raked her nails across the frozen surface to stay afloat. The water was soaking into her pelts, into her boots, weighing her down. She lunged for a jagged piece of metal that had fallen from the machine, impaling it in the ground to try and anchor herself. 

Aloy couldn’t breathe, she was so cold. She was already shivering uncontrollably, her gasping doing little to bring air into her lungs. 

Cold. Too cold to move. Her muscles were cramping, shaking, refusing to cooperate. She was slipping. She tightened her grip on the metal, feeling a hot pain in her palm. The metal came free and she was dragged down into the depths. 

What breath she managed to catch before she fell was stolen from her lungs as the water enclosed around her and she inhaled the bone chilling water. She tried kicking her legs but her armour was too heavy, pulling her down. She kept kicking and tried to get her fingers to undo the ties keeping her armour to her body but soon her movements became slow, jerky, useless. 

Aloy couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t feel anything. 

Numbing. 

Needles. 

Her vision blurred, going black around the edges. She was drowning and she couldn’t do anything about it. Just watch as the jagged hole she disappeared through slowly swirled above her head. 

Her lungs were burning, begging for air, her brain prickling with the intense cold, her throat constricting. 

Pain. 

Numbness. 

Then nothing. 

~

It was like everything stopped when Nil saw Aloy disappear beneath the water. His hands, his breath, his heartbeat. A tense, lingering moment as he waited for her to resurface, to pull herself out of the water. When she didn't it was like something had snapped within him. 

To his surprise Nil had been enjoying himself. Machines may not have been his preferred target but he had to admit their drive to destroy their foes was admirable. It was almost a shame to watch the beasts fall from the sky and collapse into piles of metal and sparking wires. He thought he could understand the thrill the Nora got. But then it had changed. 

Nil had known something was wrong the moment Aloy had fallen from the rocky face. He'd felt it when he saw her gasping for breath against the Lancehorn and he'd felt it when he stopped seeing her arrows sinking into the metal frame of the Glinthawk that was circling above her. At that point he couldn't see her, relying on his ears and what he could see of the flying scavengers to gauge her condition. 

But then he'd heard her frantic shouts and he'd heard the villager. The machine he'd been fighting had been backing him towards the ridge so between dodge rolls and shots he'd thrown a look over his shoulder. What he saw he couldn't immediately make sense of; Aloy holding back her Glinthawk with a rope while the villager shot at it. No, that didn't seem quite right. The Nora was the most skilled marksmen he'd come across, she could have taken the metal beast down on her own. 

A screech drew his attention back to his own Glinthawk and he moved away from the ridge to avoid the slew of poisonous balls it was lobbing his way. As he righted himself, he heard her and then the sound of shattering. 

Something was wrong. 

The Carja's next few arrows had pushed the machine back enough that he had time to check on his partner. The Glinthawk was gone but his partner was scrabbling, half her body in the water. She was trying to keep herself out of the water but she was struggling. 

Nil had momentarily forgotten about the machine before him until he felt a splash against his chest, his skin tingling painfully. He tore away from the ridge. When he managed to get close enough again to check on her, he was just in time to see the anchor she was using come free and she was consumed by the water. 

Nil felt something shift within himself, something hot and reckless. He tried retreating down to the lake but after only a few steps he had to change direction as the Glinthawk he’d been firing at swooped at him. 

He couldn’t run to her. Not with the machine circling above his head hurling wads of chillwater at him. 

Nil gritted his teeth, a growl sounding from his throat. He knew that every moment he wasted with the machine the further his companion sank. 

He nocked three arrows, and waited for an opening. As he rolled and dodged its aerial attacks, he continuously threw glances back at the icy pond, hoping to glimpse a hand, a glint of armour, a flash of fiery hair, anything. Each time there was nothing and he felt the cracks within him deepen. 

Finally the Glinthawk stopped its circling and hovered before him, snapping its beak and screeching. He loosed his arrows and the chillwater sac on its chest exploded. It crashed into the rocky outcrop with a crunch of metal but to Nil’s dismay, it did not still. It righted itself before long, spreading out its damaged wings. 

The desperation to get to this comrade burned a fire in him greater than the fervid bloodlust he had felt as he'd cut through the thieves. It turned his drive to kill into a reckless ferocity. 

Nil threw aside his bow, unsheathing his scimitar and charged the machine down. He ignored the snapping steel traps of its beak, slicing the metal and wire holding the head to the body. Sparks and chillwater sprayed his skin but he barely registered it as he slid down the slope past it, silver eyes fixed on the rapidly shrinking hole in the ice his partner had fallen through. 

His Carjan sandals were no better for gripping the slippery surface but he used it to his advantage, his momentum letting him slide across the ice to the hole. He peered into the depths, his fingers gripping the edge. He recoiled almost immediately at the temperature. 

He felt something clawing at his throat when he couldn't see her. He couldn’t see anything. But wait . . . there! Something directly below was gleaming a few meters down. 

He didn’t think twice about it. 

Nil had heard the stories from Banuk wanderers and exiled Nora about the gamble on one’s life placed when venturing through the frozen wilds, the uncertainty of the ground beneath your feet. He’d heard the moment you’d taken the wrong step, there was no saving yourself. 

But he didn’t care about any of that. He knew how risky it was to dive in after her but his partner, his companion was at the bottom of the lake being robbed of her life and he was above her and he was burning from the bloodlust and the rush of the battle. 

Nil unbelted the sheaths around his hips, slipped his quiver from his back, ripped off his helmet. He removed anything that would weigh him down. He wasn’t going to lose another partner. In nothing but his silk pants, he braced himself for the chill. He splashed himself all over with water first. 

And then he dived in. 

The first few moments after he entered the water he couldn’t move, the intensity of the cold shocking him into a temporary paralysis. He had to fight the instinct to breathe in that came with being plunged into something so cold. 

A flicker of orange, like a dying ember caught his eye and he forced his stiff limbs to move. The cold was so intense it was numbing his every sense, his every thought but he kept swimming. 

He reached out for her arms, his fingers gripping her wrist. He tried to pull her free but she was too heavy. He was keenly aware he was running out of time as he began to lose fine control of his fingers. 

Shakily, roughly, he forced off the pelt and shell metal fixings around her waist. Nil hooked his hand under her arm and kicking off from the body of the fallen Glinthawk, headed for the small circle of light above him that was growing ever smaller and dimmer as the ice began to slow and settle back into place. 

After what felt like an eternity Nil's head broke the surface, and he coughed and spluttered for air. His muscles protested as he pulled her body up, pushing her out of the water. She rolled onto the ice and he shuffled forward, resting his elbows on the edge. He was shaking so violently now that it was affecting his vision. 

How easy it would be to let himself rest here, to put his head down and close his eyes. Let himself be lulled into sleep, if not for a moment . . . Nil’s eyes snapped open. With what felt like a god-like effort he hauled himself from the icy water and collapsed next to Aloy’s unmoving body. He gulped in the air, momentarily relieved but he knew they weren’t safe yet. 

Forcing himself to move, he pressed his ear to her chest, straining for the sound of her heart beating. After a few moments he felt the faint thudding but it sounded too slow, too distant. He fumbled with the ties of her breastpiece and when he couldn't get his fingers to undo them, ripped the fabric at the seams, throwing aside the armour that had weighed her down like a stone. 

The Nora coughed suddenly, water flowing out of her mouth. 

“Aloy!” But then she was still again, just a sudden reflex from the relief of pressure from her chest. “Stay with me Aloy, show me that tenacity I've been craving.” He had to get them both out of the open, away from the wind and out of their soaking clothes. He had to get her back to the campfire. 

His vest gave him little comfort but it was dry at least. He pulled her arms around his neck and hoisted her onto his back, throwing the fur cloak she'd forced on him over her. The cold left him weak but something deep inside him steadied his legs as he battled his way to the smoking fire. 

There wasn’t time to check for thin ice. If they both fell through he knew he wouldn’t be strong enough to pull them out of it again. They’d both go under and it’d be all over. It was a gamble but it was one he accepted. 

He ignored the voices telling him to rest now, it was safe. The voices telling him to leave her behind. 

Too long it took until Nil reached the camp. He began to lower Aloy but his legs buckled and she fell from his back into a heap before the campfire. Her skin was bone-white, her lips so blue they were almost black. Nil’s stomach clenched. He pressed the back of his fingers against her skin but it was no use; he could hardly feel his own hands, let alone hers. He couldn’t be too late. 

But he was so cold and he was so tired. 

It was brain numbing. Nil clenched his teeth together to stop them from chattering and moved to one of the bodies draped backwards over one of the logs. Using the knife at the bandit's waist, he sliced the furs from the body. They were bloodied and slightly damp from the snow but they offered more warmth and were in much better condition than their soaking garments. 

Returning to the fire, he worked quickly, not bothering to ease Aloy's fabrics off, just cutting through them with the knife. His hands shook but he willed them to steady enough that he wouldn't cut her. He stripped away the leathers and the rest of her armour until she was lying almost bare before him. 

Knowing the cloak and furs he gathered weren’t big enough to cover them both, he covered her as best as he could, pulling the furs around her shoulders and bunching them at her front. 

Then he gathered her up in his arms and pulled her against him, fitting his arms and legs to hers. She was small enough that he could easily curl himself around her, embracing her tightly to try and feed some of his own warmth into her body. 

Nil began rocking slowly on the spot to keep his muscles from cramping.  
He was still so cold, it had sapped him of his energy. He felt so heavy but Nil knew what would happen if he closed his eyes now, if he gave into the darkness that was trying to coax him into submission. 

But he was so tired. 

He drew the Nora in closer, trying to concentrate on the sound of her breathing. The world seemed to shift around him and he felt something solid beneath his head, against his side. Nil's eyes slid shut and he rested his forehead against his partner's temple, slipping into nothingness with her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, Glinthawks, absolutely cannot stand the damn things. Writing from Nil's perspective was an interesting challenge, it's so hard to get into his head and try and figure out how things might play out for him so hopefully I did him justice.  
> Thank you to those still sticking around, it killed me that I couldn't get this out sooner. This term shouldn't be as crazy as the last so hopefully it won't be as big a wait between the next chapters. I'm very excited to get the next ones out for youse. There's nothing more motivating than your feedback, both the good and the bad so please don't be shy.


	6. Take Your Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nil wasn't _just_ anything, she'd known that since the moment she set eyes on him. And now, how could he be when he was the reason she wasn't lying lifeless at the bottom of a frozen lake?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, about that term . . . The good news is that it's Summer break now, thank the lord. I hope youse don't mind a lot of dialogue because that's what you're going to get in this chapter. It was actually a surprisingly challenging chapter to do, but I'm sure youse understand. Or you will, I hope. Enjoy.

Sinking. Weightless but sinking, further from herself, from everything. The cold that had prickled her skin and pierced her mind was now gone, left by a feeling of complete numbness as the darkness closed in.

Slowly fading away…

And then-

Light.

Heat, chasing the ice from her veins. Her eyes flickered open momentarily and she saw fire. But the warmth she could feel beneath it all was different, incomparable to that radiating from the fire or the thick layers pulled around her front. A heat wrapping around her waist, over her arms, cradling her back. In her ear as someone breathed a name … her name? But they sounded so far away. She closed her eyes once more, letting herself fall back into that warmth as it pulled tighter around her. She was so tired but now she was warm.

~

Aloy stirred into consciousness, her senses slowly coming back to her. She felt something dense beneath her and something heavy and thick wrapped around her body, trapping a layer of heat around her. The scent of something bitter tickled her nose and then she felt a burning sensation on her back and ribs. Heating oil.

Aloy opened her eyes.

In the moments it took her vision to clear all she could make out were spots of orange light surrounding her. She startled awake, instinctively reaching for her weapons but she swayed as she sat up too quickly, her body feeling oddly heavy.

No wary machines prowled before her, no towering mountain range curling around an expanse of white and alpines, no iced over lake. The lights she'd mistaken for those of a machine's were nothing more than the flames from candles and lanterns spotted around the small tent she was now in.

The events that preceded her blackout flooded her mind. The glinthawk, the ice, the water.

 _The water_.

Aloy had never felt so cold in all her life. She shivered involuntarily all over, a pain in her chest reminding her of her empty, burning lungs. She took in a slow breath then exhaled it shakily.

Drowning. Forced to endure the pain of suffocation and powerlessness as she sunk further down, weighed down by the very thing designed to save her life, to keep her warm. She almost laughed at how ironic it was.

She pushed away the furs of various thicknesses and textures that had pooled around her legs, fallen from her chest and shoulders when she'd sat up. When she looked down she saw that she no longer wore her Nora outfit but rather had been dressed in a thick shirt and leggings.

Aloy cast an eye around, spotting her Focus on the table at her bedside. Surveying the room through its eye she tried to get a sense of where she was. The tent was made from a thick, heavy leather-like material to keep in the heat emanating from a pit of glowing coals in the centre of the dirt floor. Her Focus told her the bare furnishings and tent supports were of alpine wood and iron. An Oseram camp? She didn't know Oseram to be fond of tents.

"Little spark. I didn't expect you to drift so far from your Sacred Lands." Aloy turned to the Oseram woman moving towards her from the tent entrance.

"Gera?" The Oseram's lips pulled into a tight line, forming her toothless smile.

"I'd been hoping to catch you on the wind through my old watering hole, but here you are chasing trouble."

The alewife handed Aloy a steaming bowl of broth before taking the chair at her bedside. Aloy's stomach growled appreciatively as she accepted the bowl. She opened her mouth to say something but the woman waved her hand dismissively, gesturing to the meal. Aloy needed no further prompting.

Gera watched her quietly, sipping a drink as Aloy wolfed down her meal.

"I don't suppose 'here' is Hunter's Gathering?" Aloy asked between mouthfuls. Gera shook her head.

"'Here is Rime Hold. Northeast of your lake, a kind of No Man's Land between the Sundom and the Claim."

"I didn't even know there was anything out here other than Maker's End."

"Most folks don't. It was once a strictly Oseram encampment until a number of Carja and Banuk hunters stumbled upon it in the last couple of years. It's become a kind of waystation for many wanderers now in addition to what it was before. A place to thaw out. Drip dry."

"Lucky for me, huh." Aloy quipped. She cracked open one of the thick bones in the broth with a satisfying snap, revealing the dark marrow within.

"Why aren't you back in Hunter's Gathering?" she asked.

"There was word the nights were getting colder and lonelier up here. Just so happens we have the perfect remedy for that." Gera replied.

"Kendert's here too?"

The alewife nodded.

"My silly man. After his last venture I figured I ought to make sure he stayed on track this time."

As if on cue the tent flap parted and Kendert ducked inside.

"Aloy, there she is."

He strode across the room, a bottle and two flagons in his large hands.

"No shortage of trouble for you is there?" He said, offering the full flagon to the Nora.

"I think I attracted too much this time, Kendert." Aloy said as she took it, frowning down at the dark golden-coloured liquid within.

"The red hair, I'm telling ya." Kendert shrugged as he poured himself a drink.

Aloy lifted the flagon to her face then pulled it away almost immediately, her nose wrinkling at the starchy stench of the Scrappersap. The alewife noted her expression.

"I know it's not to your liking but it'll warm you up on the inside better than any fire could. Clear your mind too."

Aloy snorted.

"I'm not sure about that last part but…" She took a tentative sip, fighting the gag as the liquid swept over her tongue. With some effort she managed to force it down, feeling it warming her throat and her stomach. She chased it down with a mouthful of the hot, savoury broth.

Gera regarded her with a crinkled brow.

"Hammer to steel though, if we hadn't found you when we did… you can thank your partner for keeping you both alive long enough for us to reach you."

Nil. Aloy's eyes widened at the same time she felt a weight drop in her stomach at the mention of the Carja.

Her reaction didn't escape Gera's noticing.

"Don't worry little spark, he's alive and well. A little on the rusty side but nothing a drink and a good night's sleep won't fix. Those Carja are as stubborn as you Nora are thick-headed."

"Where is he now?" Aloy asked, a slight strain to her voice.

"He's resting in another tent a ways down." Kendert gestured with a stab of his thumb over his shoulder. "Half frozen to death when we found you." Aloy almost smiled at his remark until she saw the seriousness in his face.

"What do you mean 'half frozen'?"

Kendert's forehead creased.

"Who do you think pulled you out of the lake? The beat up Carja boy, said your partner dived in right after you. We found you both unconscious but the fire. He must have passed out after he wrapped you up snug as a screw."

Aloy suddenly felt lightheaded. Nil followed her into the water? Then she thought, of course he did, as she would have done.

"I s'pose it wasn't for you to know until now." Gera said. "But as much as I love a good story, there's someone else here who could tell it better."

 _Saravid_ , Aloy remembered.

Kendert chuckled. "Came flying into the camp like a Strider with its ass on fire. Most thought he was a mad man rambling nonsense about Glinthawks and ropes and whatever else until he mentioned a girl with hair like the Sun itself."

Those last moments before she fell suddenly replayed in Aloy's head. Somehow it had felt both as if it had all happened within a few seconds and as if she had watched it unfold in slow motion. A flash of anger coursed through her and she shut her eyes. How could she have been so careless? She'd let herself be lured and cornered like a Grazer hunted for its Blaze and it had almost cost her her life. And Nil's.

"They asked to see you as soon as you woke up." Kendert said, bringing her back. "Insisted on sitting here waiting but we figured you might want some time to yourself first."

"Well no use keeping them waiting any longer." Aloy sighed, setting her Scrappersap down between her legs.

The Oseram couple exchanged a look with each other.

Suddenly Gera leaned forward, her expression becoming serious again as she rested an elbow on her knee. Beside her Kendert rested back in his chair, eyeing his drink with a knowing smile.

"So, Aloy. Remember what I said if you ever thought of settling down…"

Aloy felt her face flush even as she shook her head, meeting Gera's dark eyes.

"It's not like that. We collaborate from time to time when our paths cross. We watch each other's backs when we take down bandit clans. Nil and I, we have a… mutual understanding."

Gera watched Aloy for a long time as if she was searching for something. Unsure of what else to do, Aloy sat silently, holding her gaze.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kendert up-end his flagon before clapping a large hand on his wife's shoulder.

"Ah, leave her Gera. Sparks don't fly off metal in solitude."

After a moment the alewife's face broke into her thin-lined smile.

"Just keep on blowing on the wind, little spark."

~

A cool draught blowing into Aloy's tent marked Saravid's arrival not long after the Oseram's departure.

Behind him his partner shuffled in, supporting himself on a wooden walking stick. The right side of his face could only be described as a mess; eyelid swollen and sealed shut with a patch of purple, green and yellow centred around a cut across his cheekbone.

Saravid lowered himself somewhat stiffly onto the chair Gera had vacated, hands clasped between his legs. His partner rested on the edge of his stool, hands balanced on the ends of his walking stick.

"Aloy. They said you were well."

The Nora gave him a polite smile. "They said you're to thank for that. In part."

"My actions are dull in comparison to the feat your partner pulled off. I merely sought to correct a wrongdoing."

Beside him his partner shifted.

"Forgive me. Jadamin, Aloy." Saravid waved his hand between the two of them and Jadamin bowed his head.

"We're relieved to see you well, huntress." Jadamin said, and Aloy realised just how young he was. He couldn't have been much older than herself.

"I'm not the one with a wife worrying herself sick over my disappearance." Aloy replied, looking pointedly at the older Carja.

Saravid sighed at that.

"I should have known she wouldn't stop at the guards. I hope she wasn't too much for you?"

"Well she didn't run off with a grudge after a party of thieves."

The uninjured side of Jadamin's face lifted in a small smile while Saravid's did the opposite.

"I never hoped to confront them. I merely wanted to know what they planned on doing so I could relay something useful to Captain Ulad. I realised too late I was in over my head."

Aloy crossed her arms.

"Was that before or after they captured you?"

Saravid’s mouth straightened into a hard line.

"Jadamin kept trying to tell me to give it up, to let them go. I fear he only agreed to come with me to talk me out of my stupidity." The young Carja looked down at that. His elder continued. "It's that stupidity that got him beaten and you and your partner…" he trailed off, breaking Aloy's gaze.

"I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am, Aloy. I only did what I thought was the right thing, in both instances."

Aloy sighed.

"That's not what I'm concerned about right now."

"Of course. I suppose you'd like to know why you didn't find our corpses rotting into the earth."

He gestured to the bottle of Scrappersap at her side. Aloy nodded and he poured himself a generous amount, taking a long haul of it as if to prepare himself. Then he launched into his story.

"I'd heard them come the night they raided the merchant's stall. They passed right under my window, whispering and bickering. I thought little of it until I heard an almighty splintering and thud. By the time I realised what had happened they had already made a good distance from the camp. The guard would not leave until morning and I feared they would be long gone by then."

"So you took it upon yourself to confront them?" Aloy said.

"At that point I had known them only as thieves. It didn't take us long to find their campsite. Jadamin offered to get closer. He's much lighter of foot and better of hearing than I so I agreed. We weren't to know they'd been aware of our presence."

"They planned an ambush." Aloy deduced.

Saravid nodded.

"Though they must have expected there to be more than the two of us. They had fanned out into the woods behind us. It was sheer luck they missed me but I only managed to take out one before they pounced on Jadamin. They threatened to slice him open if I didn't reveal myself unarmed.

"We both thought it was over for us but then they questioned us about the mountain range, the passes through them. They asked about Rime Hold, not by name of course but they seemed to believe there was something hidden in the snow, an Oseram dwelling in the ruin of a great town of the Old Ones. When they realised we knew where they wanted to go they took us as captives and forced me to lead them there. They kept Jadamin as a- how did they phrase it-"

"'Insurance'." The younger Carja said simply, rubbing his knuckles self-consciously. It was then that Aloy noticed his fingers were swollen and crooked.

"If you refused…" Aloy began.

"If I took a wrong turn, if they thought I was stalling, if I tried to run. By the Sun, if I so much as glanced at them for too long…" His gaze turned to the mess that was his partner's face. Jadamin turned to Aloy.

"It's a good thing you came when you did, Aloy. I shudder to think what may have become of us had you not intervened."

Saravid nodded agreement.

"That's when I should have left for help. I knew the settlement wasn't far and yet I sat there with Jadamin broken at my side. I wanted to rush in and provide some kind of assistance but the way you and your partner worked together was truly mesmerising. I feared I would only get in your way.

"Then I saw you struggling. I should have read your body language better. I was just so desperate to do something, I just leaped at the opportunity when it came. I never intended things to spiral so out of control. The moment I saw the look of horror painted on your face at the release of my arrows, I knew I'd made a grave mistake. I ran so hard I could not feel my own feet by the time they carried me into the town."

"I surfaced into consciousness long enough to see you fall, Aloy." Jadamin interjected. "Even when I could finally make sense of all the pieces, I could barely support myself. You can thank the Sun your partner was so swift. I watched him cut down the Glinthawk that had been hassling him like it was mere ridgewood. I admit, I shouted for him not to go after you but his resolve was unshakeable. Well, that or he didn't hear me."

Aloy listened tensely as Jadamin recounted the events after she'd lost consciousness. Nil had not only pulled her out of the water but also brought her back from the brink, keeping her warm until Gera and the other Oseram brought them back to the settlement. She'd heard of death by freezing many times before. Death chills. That's what the Nora called it. It had a slightly more colourful name to the Carja but it made it no less threatening.

"I've never seen someone that was so, so…" the young Carja trailed off but she understood. Relentless, ruthless, driven. Demonic even. All words used to describe the Carja hunter but none of them were adequate, only capturing a single dimension of him.

When Aloy didn't say anything for a long time, the two Carja men exchanged a glance. The older placed a hand on the younger's shoulder.

"Come now Jadamin. We've taken up enough of the Nora's time." His young partner nodded and slowly got to his feet.

"Thank you, Aloy. I don't want to imagine what might have happened had you not come when you had."

Aloy managed a small smile before he shuffled out of her tent. Saravid however had not yet made a move to leave. She could see the hesitation in his gaze that wouldn't meet hers, the question wavering on his tongue.

"If I may ask, Aloy. Your partner-"

"Nil." Aloy supplied.

"Nil is it? Not the name I remember."

"You know him?" Aloy supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. His wife had told her that they had once resided in Sunfall, they were bound to have come across him at one point. Saravid's answer confirmed her thoughts.

"Mostly by reputation, but yes, I do."

Aloy sighed, pinching the skin between her brows.

"I know what you're going to say, Saravid. I've heard it all before."

"I'm not sure you have. Not like this at least."

Had it been any other instance Aloy would have perked up at the comment but with all that the two Carja had already told and the events that she had been through, all she wanted at that moment was to be alone.

Aloy set the half full flagon of brew on the table beside the bed and ran a hand through her knotted hair. Saravid continued.

"Many Carja young are put to bed with stories of the wild Banuk and their untamed territories. Stories of hunters and children disappearing beneath the ice, falling through crevasses concealed by the softest blankets of snow. The Sun's influence shines pale in such places, hence why many Carja tend to avoid the snow and ice.”

"I wouldn't say the Sun is quite as influential to Nil as it is to other Carja." Aloy said. In fact, Nil was one of the few Carja she had encountered that didn't hold the Sun or the king in such high reverence.

"Maybe not but Nil would have heard of such tales, I'm sure. And tales or not, they are enough of a warning for men to know better than to step on ground that shifts beneath his feet."

"I don't need you to tell me that what we did was reckless, Saravid. I put myself in that position, stupidly, and I suffered the consequences. Nil just… isn't one to consider his life as a priority."

"My point isn't to scold you, Aloy. I strongly believe had I not intervened, the events that followed would have been much less perilous for you both."

Aloy chose not to make a comment on that. Instead, having enough of sitting idly, she kicked her legs over the other side of the cot, her back to the Carja man.

"They say the man has no fear for his life." Saravid said to her back.

"They say a lot of things about him." Aloy replied curtly. She slipped her feet into the fur boots set out for her.

"Yes, as I am aware. But I'm not so sure I believe them all."

Aloy’s eyes went to the ceiling for a moment.

"Why shouldn't you? Everybody else does." It was meant as a rhetorical question but she knew he would answer it regardless.

"I may not have been a military man but I lived alongside many of those who fought under the Mad Sun-King. Soldiers are taught to fight as a unit. They watch their brothers' backs, stand by each other's side when the threat of death looms. But a soldier also knows when his fellow kinsmen is doomed and at those times he knows he must continue on for the good of himself and his cause."

The idea of Nil being afraid for his own life might have been humorous had she not been at the end of her patience. Despite Saravid's earlier comment, their talk was sounding more like a lecture than a discussion but she continued to humour him anyway.

"So what, Nil's- _fear_ \- blinded him to the severity of the situation and it nearly got him killed. Okay."

"No, Aloy. I believe he knew exactly what he was doing and what was at stake. I think he decided it was worth tempting fate."

The weight of Saravid's words hit Aloy like an arrow to the chest. She cast a look over her shoulder at the man.

"You said yourself he has no fear." Aloy said a little breathlessly.

"For his own life, perhaps. But for the life of another…"

Saravid stood then, making his way to the tent entrance. His hand was on the opening when he turned back to her.

"And one last thing, Aloy. I believe the word Jadamin was searching for was 'desperate'."

Saravid gave her one last long look before disappearing into the night, leaving the Nora to her thoughts.

Aloy sat in numb silence, eyes unfocused on the tent entrance as she tried to process Saravid's words.

_Desperate?_

Aloy shook her head.

Saravid knew nothing about Nil other than the fact that he was a renowned killer, a man to be feared and yet he was willing to vouch for his humanity. In her travels she'd only known one other person to do such a thing.

Aloy stood abruptly. She needed fresh air and space, badly.

She reached for her bow among the pile of her equipment organised neatly at the foot of her bed and crossed the room in a couple of strides. She had no intention of actually hunting; she knew better than to go wandering off into the snowy wilds in the peak of the night. But the familiar feel of the wood against her palm and fingertips, smoothed with use to fit her grip perfectly was like an anchor, an antidote to the jumble of thoughts in her mind.

The chill of the night against her skin as she stepped out of her tent momentarily transported Aloy back to black, ice cold water filling her vision and mouth. She inhaled deeply, letting the frosty air wash over her skin and course through her. Air, not water.

When Aloy opened her eyes again, she set them on a point in the distance, ignoring the curious eyes that followed her. She didn't know where she was going but her feet took her through the settlement, Oseram improvements and workmanship like patchwork on the ancient metal structures.

When Aloy's boots hit discoloured cracked stone she looked up to behold a towering building that was now more nature than metal.

Aloy climbed, feeling the rust scrape her hands, tiny frozen droplets melting under her touch. The cut on her palm burned with each movement but it was a welcome distraction.

She hoisted herself onto a long platform, many of its safety railings bent or missing.

From her vantage point the settlement was sprawled out before her, the flickering light of lanterns and candles piercing the light cloud of forge and bonfire smoke from that hung over the village.

She wondered what stories were brewing by the central bonfire. It was likely Gera and Kendert were in the heat of another arm wrestle or ensuring no mug was left unfilled.

Had Saravid and Jadamin gone to rest? She found her own tent and then her eyes kept roaming further down the line of dwellings. She knew in one of those tents was Nil, probably lying beneath a mountain of furs like she had been, 'thawing out'. Aloy knew she could use her Focus to tell for sure which was his tent but she'd spent enough time in settlements to know better than to use it around residences this late at night.

Aloy felt a pit in her stomach.

 _And you thought it would be_ thrilling, she thought incredulously. _Knowing you it probably was, wasn't it Nil?_

Falling to some extremist's metal or beneath the claws of some rampaging machine was how Aloy had expected to go out. Not bloated and breathless beneath a layer of ice.

Of course, it wasn't the first time she'd come close to death. She'd been thrown off a clifftop twice, had to fight for her life at the onslaught of fanatics and machines. But it wasn't that she'd almost lost her life that had shaken her.

It was the helplessness she'd felt, the fact that she could do nothing but wait as the life seeped out of her, swallowed up and dragged down into the depths.

And yet here she was, not drowning, not breathless. Because of Nil.

A strange tenderness flooded through her.

They'd fought side by side on a number of occasions now, each time their movements more synchronised and seamless than the last. Countless times they'd had each other's backs, downing enemies readying a fatal shot or strike at the other. Each time they'd done it almost instinctively, acting before thinking, knowing what needed to be done to survive; they were partners after all. Why should this time have been any different?

Had their roles been reversed, Aloy knew she would have done the same for him. So why did Saravid's words seem to affect her so? Deep down, a part of her was telling her it was more than camaraderie that drove Nil into the lightless depths after her.

But they were partners. Nil was just-

But Aloy couldn't bring herself to finish the thought. Nil wasn't _just_ anything, she'd known that the moment she had laid eyes on him and she believed it even more fiercely now.

Back then in the Sacred Lands, crouching casually by the corpses of the bandits he had slain, unphased by the Nora girl sizing him up, she'd known he was dangerous, untrustworthy, unstable even.

Aloy had still barely scratched the surface of what he was exactly but at least now she knew that there was something much more humane beneath the penchant for blood, even if she'd only seen it in glimpses. A small part of her had begun to believe that maybe their differences were much fewer than she had previously thought.

Aloy tore her eyes away from the settlement, shifting her mind to other things. The sky opened above her, stars spilling out across the inky blackness, twinkling red, gold, purple. Silver.

She dropped her head, slipping her fingers over her bow resting in her lap. She let her fingertips trace the intricacies of the craftsmanship, feeling the grooves in the wood, the smoothness of the white shell. Her fingers lingered on the crimson feathers fixed to the bow, soft down tickling her skin.

Aloy sighed, dropping her bow and rubbing her eyes.

She should be resting but she dismissed the thought almost as soon as it formed. She couldn't rest, not when she could feel something growing beneath her skin.

Knowing that peace of mind and sleep would not come as long as the feeling remained, she went to seek the company of the only man who could silence the roiling in her mind and deeper within.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued . . .


End file.
